After more than a year of delay, five New Orleans (La.) dispatchers have been disciplined for sleeping on the job with letters of reprimand. One of the dispatchers had also been accused of lying to investigators when confronted about sleeping, but was not fired for that infraction. According to police officials, the lying occurred before the department’s “you lie, you die” policy was put in place in Sept. 2010. The discipline comes in the aftermath of an extensive outside investigation of the New Orleans Police Department, and a recent study (pdf) of the Orleans Parish 9-1-1 District answer times increased dramatically during 2010 as the number of dispatchers were laid off, and as others quit because of mandatory furlough days. The agency went from 65 employees in April to just 34 in December, while 10-second answer times went from 98% to 89%.
According to discipline letters written in March 2011 but just released, all five dispatchers were observed in the 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. period sleeping in separate incidents during March, April and May 2010. They were written up by a supervisor, and hearings for all five occurred in Nov. 2010. In all cases, the discipline letter noted, “At that hearing you offered nothing which would tend to mitigate, justify or explain your behavior as heretofore outlined.”
Dispatchers Diane LaRose, Elmaree Thomas, Monica Stevens, Qvonda Blackwell-Taylor and Rhonda Cannon were all reprimanded. Thomas was also suspended for three days without pay for lying to investigators when he claimed to have been given permission to watch television during his shift.
Download (pdf) the discipline letters here, and read more about the discipline here.
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