Dispatcher Not At Fault For Shooting by Officers

A Dane County (Wisc.) radio dispatcher who misinterpreted a calltaker’s notations in the computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system was not at fault when officers shot and killed a man armed with a knife last August. An investigation by the communications center found that officers would have handled the confrontation with a 59 year-old man the same way, regardless of the information provided to them by dispatcher Juan Olivas. Nevertheless, center director John Dejung said the incident is instructive that calltakers must obtain complete information about incidents, and accurately type it into CAD to avoid any misunderstandings. The incident began when a woman in Madison dialed 911 to say her husband was armed with a knife and had cut himself. She specifically told calltaker Shannon McNamara that she had not been cut or injured herself. With that information, McNamara typed into the CAD incident details, “HUSBAND CUT STOMACH W/KNIFE, IN BACKYARD NOW.” When Olivas then dispatched the information officers on the radio, he stated, “For a domestic. Husband cut wife in the stomach with a knife.” Officers arrived believing the caller had been injured by her husband. They confronted the man outside holding a knife, and fatally shot him. “Regardless of the misinterpretation,” Dejung said, “it would not have made a difference in the response.” Officers would have used lethal force in either case, police officials explained. Dejung said neither dispatcher would be disciplined and no comm center procedures would be changed. Read more about the incident here.