Concerned Dispatcher Sparks Investigation, Firing

An Austin (Tex.) police officer has been fired after he lied to dispatchers that he was handling a report of a suicidal man, and instead drove away to take his lunch break with two fellow officers. The next day police found the man dead in his backyard, the victim of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Keith McCook was an eight-year veteran of APD and, according to an internal investigation, mishandled the Sept. 2010 incident and then lied to investigators when questioned. According to a report issued by police chief Art Acevedo, McCook was assigned to an advice case involving someone APD calls “Mr. X.” McCook took less than three minutes to handle the incident. At the moment he was leaving Mr. X’s house, the man’s wife called a dispatcher from another location, saying she’d received text messages from Mr. X that read like suicide threats. A calltaker entered another incident for “Check Welfare-Urgent,” and two officers were dispatched. McCook heard the radio dispatch, called the comm center supervisor, downgraded the call to “Assist Complaintant,” and cancelled the two responding officers. He then called Mrs. X on his cellular phone, failed to return to Mr. X’s house, and went on a pre-arranged lunch break with two officers. A radio dispatcher noticed on the GPS map display that McCook’s unit did not return to Mr. X’s house, and notified a watch commander, and McCook’s supervisor then ordered him to return to the house and take a report. When McCook arrived, Mr. X didn’t answer the door or his phone. He didn’t walk around the house or investigate the open garage door, but instead left. Relatives found Mr. X’s body the next evening. Download (pdf) the police chief’s report and read the key role that dispatchers played in the incident.