Dispatcher Reprimanded After Murder-Suicide

Officials at a regional Washington state communications center have issued a mildly-worded letter of reprimand to the dispatcher who handled a 911 call from a social worker last February, minutes before the parent she was supervising set fire to his house, killing himself and two young children. The Tacoma-based Law Enforcement Support Agency (LESA) delivered the letter of reprimand to 18-year veteran dispatcher Davd Lovrak for allegedly violating the center’s mission statement, and three statements from the center’s operations manual on trust, “concern and courtesy,” and responsiveness. The agency found that Lorvak did not actually mishandle the 911 call or violate more substantive sections of the operations manual. In fact, the reprimand letter written by LESA assistant director Diana Lock said Lovrak correctly prioritized the incident, had no premise information on which to rely, and correctly did not rely on Phase II 911 location information because, “it can be extremely inaccurate.” Much of the letter recounted a “fact-finding” that Lock had with Lovrak, during which he admitted his errors and justified his actions. Lock summed up, “Could you have handled this call better? Yes, and you have been the first to admit that.”  Lock concluded that a written reprimand was the appropriate discipline. “If the outcome had been different I feel a Written Record of Counseling would be warranted,” she wrote without explanation. The social worker dialed 911 to report Josh Powell, who was the focus of several police investigations and was in the midst of a custody battle with his wife. When the social worker delivered the children to his home for a supervised visit, Powell slammed the door shut. Shortly after, the house erupted in flames. Download (pdf) Lovrak’s letter of reprimand here., and read more about the original incident here.