Police: Dispatcher Didn’t Relay Citizen’s Complaint

A Lakeland (Fla.) police dispatcher has been suspended during an investigation into how she handled a call from a woman reporting an officer was stalking her and tried to have sex with her. The officer was later arrested and has been charged with sexual battery and stalking. The incident is the second involving the city’s police dispatchers within the last three months, and has prompted the State Attorney to question if the police chief is capable of administering the department. The current incident also raises the question of how dispatchers should handle citizen complaints involving police officers, especially when the complaint appears to involve a crime. According to police, officer Julio Pagan met a woman at her home while on-duty and in-uniform, and attempted to have sex with her. The woman’s friend first called police to complain, but no officer was dispatched. Days later, the woman herself called, and logging tapes revealed the dispatcher laughed about the incident while giving another officer the woman’s information. Pagan is expected to be fired and faces prison time if convicted. The investigation into the dispatcher’s conduct is nearly complete, police say. In July several off-duty Lakeland dispatchers were involved in a bar incident during which suggestive messages were written on mirrors, and photos were posted on Facebook. Read more about the dispatcher’s suspension here, and about the woman’s calls to police here.