A simple 911 call to a Cleveland (Ohio) police dispatcher has led to the safe return of three women who were kidnapped and held up to 11 years, allegedly by three brothers who lived on the city’s west side. One of the women, Amanda Berry, now 27 years-old, managed to get the attention of a neighbor through a partially-open door and call for help. Another neighbor managed to break a door panel, allowing Berry to escape to a nearby store, where she dialed 911. In one dramatic statement, Berry summed up the ordeal, saying “I’ve been kidnapped and I’ve been missing for 10 years, and I’m, I’m here, I’m free now.” After the three-minute calls, police responded, listened to Berry’s story, and then proceeded to the nearby house to rescue Michelle Knight and Gina DeJesus. All three were taken to a hospital for evaluation and treatment. Police arrested one suspect in the neighbor, and later two more at other locations. Police said the three are in their 50s. All three women disappeared in their teens during the period from 2002 to 2004, and police had no clues on whether they had been kidnapped or voluntarily left. Listen to the 911 call here, and the radio dispatch here. Update: Shortly after the 911 logging tape was released, there was considerable public criticism of the calltaker’s handling of the call. Critics said the dispatcher should have kept Berry on the phone, and should have been more personal and empathetic with her. Martin Flask, director of the city’s Department of Public Safety, said the agency would be reviewing how the dispatcher handled the call. “While the call-taker complied with policies and procedures which enabled a very fast response by police,” Flask said in a statement, “we have noted some concerns which will be the focus of our review, including the call-taker’s failure to remain on the line with Ms. Berry until police arrived on the scene.” He later posted a departmental blog entry about the criticism. May 21st Update: Cleveland PD confirmed they are examining the logging tape of Berry’s 911 call to determine if the calltaker used a profanity at the very end of the call.
Berry escaped with the assistance of next-door neighbor Charles Ramsay, who also dialed 911. His call was much less emotional, more rambling and filled with profanities. Listen to that 911 call here.
The author of a story on the Web site Slate.com was supportive of the Cleveland 911 calltaker’s handling of the call. The writer said the calltaker obtained the pertinent information, followed the proper procedure, and that police units arrived promptly.
14 comments… add one
On Fox 8 this morning, John Walsh, the man who lost his kid and had a TV show (America’s Most Wanted) on missing kids, publicly made the mistake of naming and cussing out the man who rescued them, as the suspects. (What an idiot)!
WKYC this afternoon stated that there were several pregnancies and the girls were used as sex slaves.
All over Cleveland news today, check the following.
Note, Wkyc.com has the 911 tape.
http://www.newsnet5.com/ has info
http://fox8.com/ has info
And http://www.19actionnews.com/ has info
I’m so sad for berry that he spoke with this woman.. That is horrible, after beeing raped and kept by men the first woman she talks to doesnt even are are try to connect with her. I don’t buy the excuses like they are so busy etc… This is a disaster
By far the worst dispatch phone call I’ve ever heard! Berry obviously did not want to hang up .. That dispatcher should be fired.
I am also extremely disappointed and saddened that dispatch did not keep her on the line.
She should be fired. I realize this is probably a routine job and the pay probably isn’t the greatest but, there is no excuse at all for her lack of empathy for the caller. She acted like the person calling was bothering her and she had better things she could be doing. How about sending these operators to compassion training. Pitiful and disgusting!
There are sources from which you can learn compassion or empathy. I think they should be obligatory trainings in schools and work places. Here are the most popular ones I know:
– Marshall B. Rosenberg’s Non-Violent Communication (NVC) – http://www.cnvc.org
– Thomas Gordon’s Parent Effectiveness Training (PET), Thomas Gordon’s Teacher Effectiveness Training (TET), Thomas Gordon’s Leader Effectiveness Training (LET) – http://www.gordontraining.com
– cultureofempathy.com
If you can’t take any training, you can buy the book!
These books/trainings that teach compassion also teach interpersonal communication skills.
I didn’t think that the Amanda Berry dispatcher was that bad compared to other recordings I’ve heard. Why do so many dispatcher’s sound rude and uneducated? A lot of them even sound annoyed. Wouldn’t a 911 dispatcher, that is handling life and death situations, need to meet strict requirements and have strong communication skills?
Allow me to give some perspective…yes the dispatcher sounded unempathetic and should have stayed on the line given the situation. However we dont know what other calls this call taker handled today or if the phones were ringing off the hook or what all was going on in this call center. If youve been working for hours on end with non stop phone ringing going from call to call to call your bound to sound stressed to people after awhile. Bottom line is the call taker sent an officer and an officer got there and rescued these poor women. Keep her on the phone next time but good job otherwise. Keep the whole picture in mind when your judging people.
The dispatcher did exactly what they were supposed to do : Get location, what is going on, and try to get a description of the actor. If Ms. Berry would have said, “Stay on the phone with me” then you stay on the phone, otherwise, you hang up, dispatch the call and answer the next call that is ALWAYS coming in. Remember this, 75% of the police/ems calls we as dispatchers take are pure BS. We are trained to be professional and not get emotionally caught up in calls. We have to be in control, it makes us sound cold and distant, but that is our job. You have no idea what it is like in a 911 center until your butt is in that chair, don’t be so quick to judge.
The dispatcher did her job, that is get an excact location, even a one or two house number difference could be another block or street away. It sounds like the call was correctly graded and passed within a minute and a half to the radio dispatchers, which is what a competant dispatcher would do. Dispatchers are trained not to react emtionally to what they here, they need to remain cool, calm and level headed so that can make decesions, under stress and in a short period of time. If the phones are ringing of the hook then you need to plough through the calls, as that next one waiting could also be a life or death emegrency, you simply do not know till you answer that call. It is very easy to be critical with hindsight.
I think the dispatcher could have done her job better. Here’s the immediate questions in my mind. Why wasnt the caller kept on the phone, especially in a situation like that? To me that is a priority that you keep on the phone, Why wasnt info asked on suspects, weapons, descriptions, does she(the caller) need ems? Is anyone else in the house, description of vehicles, where are the other people in the house.. Basic calltaking skills that simply were not followed in my opinion.
Speaking as a dispatcher with almost 18 years on the job and 10 as a trainer, yes the dispatcher did her job but I don’t think she did it well and could have done it much better. We cannot let complancy get the better of us..
I know I am a week late to this conversation, but I have to add to it. Perhaps some of you have actually received answers to your questions, but with no help from the media (or social media which is a huge difference), and that is why the conversation has stopped. I myself (dispatcher of 10 years) wondered why Amanda’s dispatcher did not ask more questions, so I looked for possible answers. I did not find any until I listened to Charles Ramsey’s uncensored call. That is when I found out Charles and Amanda calls came into the center at almost the exact same time. The dispatcher who handled Charles Ramsey’s call asked most, if not all, of the questions Amanda’s dispatcher was slammed for not asking. Charles was able to provide more answers than Amanda due to her understandably upset state. Amanda’s dispatcher got the suspect information that Charles Ramsey could not provide, and ended the call. I heard one call where Amanda’s dispatcher hung up and contacted someone else about needing to look at the kidnapping call. This could have been the channel dispatchers, or a supervisor, or … For all I know Amanda’s dispatcher could have had other high priority calls on hold, or coming in, as well. It is common. Do I think this was 100% perfect? No, but it was still a fantastic group effort and response. It is true that 60-70% of 911 calls in agencies all over the U.S. are now non-emergencies. Education on this is lacking, and it puts a strain on dispatchers. Also, any member of the publicis now free to record 911 calls off their television, potentially edit things in or out of the call, and post it on Youtube. Humiliating GIFs (captioned pictures) of Charles Ramsey were created for internet sport. In some unedited versions of calls, handed out to irresponsible hands, his phone number was provided to the public and he has been bombarded with calls. All the while both dispatchers have been ripped apart, based on limited facts and opinions. As a person who loves my job, I am crushed by the mockery has been of it. And also being made of those who call.
Thanks very much for helping clarify what we should all have realized—the situation was much more layered than was apparent from a single 911 call.
You are very welcome, Gary. It is hard to focus on anything but this horrible crime when hearing about it. It is a great deal to take in, but in a 911 office, there is always more.
I do hope this call and resulting fall out, on many levels, prompts some serious discussion about the way this situation was handled, once in the public eye. I can’t stop thinking about the 3 incredibly strong women at the center, and how some of the internet fodder of this traumatic situation might make them feel, years down the line.
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