Comments on: Officer Murdered, Post-Incident Focus on Dispatchers

By: MLF

MLF — Thu, 08 Aug 2013 05:52:55 +0000

I used to work for this department and worked with these women. I can assure you, the mistake is not fully being made aware of. A supervisor was aware of this and standing by giving verbal recommendations. Very convenient considering there is no written trace…. Joanie Ware followed every bit of protocol, which is why she has her job back. Martha screwed up, bad. But she screwed up after the call came in that Officer Smith had been shot. …. And yes, the protocol has been changed AFTER the death of an officer. Placing blame when all the facts are not known is irresponsible to say the least.

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 19:42:46 +0000

According to the police report, officers were aware that an officer was shot at that location. It seems that there is some blame being passed to dispatch that should go other places. We dispatchers don’t have the, “Blue wall” to stand behind… shame.

By: Kelly R. Rasmussen

Kelly R. Rasmussen — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:23:15 +0000

It makes me wonder what else is going on?

By: imnotrich

imnotrich — Tue, 03 May 2011 16:12:19 +0000

Dispatchers failed to relay to units that an officer had been shot?

Seriously? Where did you find these highly qualified dispatchers?

By: GAry

GAry — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 18:58:09 +0000

My impression is that it was entirely POST-incident that prompted the firing and resignation, even though they later implemented a two-officer rule afterwards. The police report isn’t specific on exactly what when wrong post-incident. But, I believe: the daughter ran to the neighbor, who then called 911. But that call wasn’t immediately put out as “officer shot.” That occurred because the caller didn’t provide an exact address that matched where the officer already was. Instead, officers were sent when Off. Smith failed to answer a timed “are you OK?” radio check.

By: Leiton

Leiton — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 14:11:51 +0000

I am curious as to what policies were not followed. Based on this article and the local news article, I am reading that the policy to send two officers to ALL domestic disturbance calls was put into affect AFTER this incident.

Policies which may have been violated is on the dispatchers involved. Yes, other units and patrol supervisors should be monitoring as a backup, but the dispatcher(s) should know, understand, and follow the policies of the department.

Prayers are with everyone involved directly and indirectly.

By: Yvonne

Yvonne — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 13:37:06 +0000

I understand that policy/procedures must be followed; I’ve been dispatching for 10 years, supervising for most of that time.

We’ve had our fair share of incidents…BUT it’s also up to the ZONE PARTNER, OTHER ROAD UNITS, AND ROAD SUPERVISOR to listen and pay attention to the radio. IF dispatch is mandated to send 2, then the supervisor on the road (at the very least) should have responded, or sent a unit to back Smith.

Had another officer been there, the perp would have still sneaked in and the agency would be burying multiple officers.

It’s a sad situation and I’m sorry for their loss.