Dispatchers In Two Cities Accused of Misconduct

Two stories of dispatcher misconduct broke this week in separate cities, both involving inappropriate statements on the radio and on a social Web site. In one case a radio dispatcher also misinformed responding officers, who then failed to find the victim of a homicide. In the first case, Dallas (Tex.) dispatcher April Sims has been fired for posting racist and other inappropriate comments on her Facebook page. The remarks were noticed by a local TV reporter, who notified the Dallas Police Department. Sims was hired in Dec. 2012 during a hiring binge sparked by an earlier dispatcher mistake. She was still on probation, and so was immediately fired. In one Web posting, she wrote, “Black people are outrageous! They are more like animals, they never know how to act, just loud [expletive] Always causing problems.” Read more here. In the second case, New York City police say a radio dispatcher laughed on the air and broadcast incorrect information about a “check the welfare” incident. An investigation is still underway, officials said. According to police, a psychiatrist called police about a patient who had talked of a dream in which he had killed someone. The patient wasn’t sure if the experience was real or imagined. A calltaker correctly took the information from the doctor, with the intent that officers would be sent to the victim’s home to check on her. However, an unnamed radio dispatcher mistakenly told officers that the patient had called, and wanted officers to check his home for evidence he’d been assaulted. She also was heard to laugh on the logging tape about the incident. Officers arrived, received no answer, and left. Four days later the victim’s relatives discovered her dead in the basement of that same house. Read more about the incident and listen to logging tapes of the incident here.