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Alan Burton
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Monday, February 8 2010 |
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A former Blair County (Penn.) public safety dispatcher has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the county, alleging sexual harassment, gender discrimination and retaliation. Kelli Sawyers claims that when arriving at work during training in 2006, she, "always waved and smiled and said good morning to the dispatchers and to the supervisor." But after she passed by, "The dispatchers said horrible, foul, and nasty things about Plaintiff and other trainees." A veteran dispatcher called a trainee who had a knee injury a "fat f--- with a cane" and other veterans called the trainees "morons," the lawsuit states. The motive for the trainee comments was apparently resentment that the new employees would be taking overtime hours away from the veterans, the lawsuit sets out. Sawyers says she also witnessed violations of privacy laws when dispatchers would disclose medical patient information to outsiders, make rude comments to callers, and make profane remarks about firefighters who called on the radio. The lawsuit also claims that a female dispatcher brought pornographic videos into the comm center to watch, along with many other profane outbursts by dispatchers. Download (pdf) the full lawsuit here.
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Monday, February 8 2010 |
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A Commerce City (Colo.) police officer shot and killed a dog that was advancing towards her and that she believed was vicious, after she arrived to investigate a hang-up 911 call. An Adams County (ADCOM) dispatcher had already called the home back and spoken to the homeowner, confirming the original 911 call was a mis-dial. But ADCOM officials say the dispatcher followed policy, and deliberately did not tell the homeowner that an officer was still responding to confirm the misdial, in order to maintain the element of surprise in evaluating the situation at the home. The 35-pound, mixed-breed dog confronted the officer and was fatally shot. The family said they didn't expect an officer to arrive, and would have corralled their three dogs if they had known. They added that the dog that was shot was not aggressive. Read more here. |
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Monday, February 8 2010 |
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The family of murder victim Brittany Zimmermann has convinced a Wisconsin state legislator to introduce a bill that would change how 911 logging tapes are released to the public. The Zimmermanns specifically want to prevent the release of the audio of a 911 call from Zimmermann's apartment the day she was murdered by an unknown person. Through a series of errors and miscommunications, no officer was sent to investigate the hang-up 911 call that may have been made by Zimmermann as she was attacked. Those who have heard the recording—that has never been released—say there are sounds that should have prompted a law enforcement response to the apartment. State Rep. Amy Sue Vruwink (D) held a hearing last week to hear testimony from the Zimmermann's and from the family of Jordan Gonnering, Zimmermann's boyfriend. It was Gonnering who found Zimmermann's body several hours after the 911 call. Under Vruwink's bill, record custodians can now withhold the release of tapes under a balancing test. The bill would allow the release of a printed transcript of 911 calls, allowing the custodian more flexibility to release calls, but provide more privacy. More state legislatures are considering 911 tape privacy laws, which are generally opposed by the nation's journalism associations. Download (pdf) a copy of the proposed bill here, and read more about it here. |
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Thursday, February 4 2010 |
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Thursday, February 4 2010 |
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A former Eastside Communications Center (Bellevue, Wash.) dispatcher has been charged with embezzling at least $80,000 from a police association fund for charitable contributions. Pamela Rae Heidi, 60, had served 38 years as a dispatcher before she was laid off in June 2009. She served as treasurer for the Bellevue Police Benevolent Association for four years. According to police, Heidi confessed to becoming anxious last year when it was announced her job position would be eliminated, and began taking money from the association account to pay bills and a gambling debt. Heidi told investigators that she had paid most of the money back, and an accountant apparently has confirmed her claim. She was arrested last August and has been charged with first-degree theft. She faces up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 if convicted. She remains free on bond. |
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Thursday, February 4 2010 |
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An Orange County (Fla.) man drowned after his pick-up truck swerved into a pond along the highway, despite a 911 call for help. Umberto Delgato Jr. sounded calm on the one minute, 45-second recording as he described what happened. He gave two different dispatchers his last location and direction, but struggled with a precise location. Neither dispatcher specifically asked Delgado about his situation in the vehicle, although Delgado did say, "I don't know if I'm going to sink or anything." Neither gave Delgado any advice on escaping the vehicle. At the end of the call he confirmed the highway he was on, saying, "Yea." But after the dispatcher asked him, "What direction were you going?" there was nothing but silence. The Florida Highway Patrol hasn't released a timeline of the response, and haven't said how long it took to locate the truck. The recording of the 911 call seems to end abruptly, and it's not clear if there is more to the call. The FHP did say Delgado was outside the truck when they arrived, and that he could not be revived. The truck was submerged eight feet underwater. Listen (mp3) to the 911 call here. |
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Thursday, February 4 2010 |
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Dispatchers at the Law Enforcement Support Agency (LESA) communications center in Pierce County (Wash.) have created a memorial T-shirt for the four Lakewood officers who were murdered last month. Now, in partnership with the 911 CARES project, they are selling the T-shirts to raise money for the officers' nine children. The LESA design includes photos of the officers, their radio IDs and the date of the incident, on both white and black T-shirts, in sizes from small to 5X. You can order the shirts here, and find information about LESA here. |
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Wednesday, February 3 2010 |
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The Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO) has released a report it funded to assess public safety needs in the D Block of 700 MHz spectrum. Not surprisingly, the nine-pages of analysis concluded what APCO has been advocating for two years: the D Block should be assigned to public safety as a single block to create a national wireless network. The assessment builds upon the association's on-going lobbying efforts to snag a 700 MHz allocation, including a member letter-writing campaign to Washington politicians. The report's author is Dr. Alan Shark, executive director of Public Technology Institute (PTI), a Washington (DC)-based association created by cities and counties as an advocate and resource for technology in government. In the report, Shark concluded that, "Public-safety-grade service demands special requirements that simply cannot be found in commercial systems," and listed six factors why commercial systems are "inadequate." He said his assessment, "demonstrates rather conclusively that the 700 MHz D-Block and Public Safety Broadband License (PSBL) should be combined as a complete block, because of the mission-critical requirements and applications that have been highlighted." Download (pdf) the assessment here. |
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Tuesday, February 2 2010 |
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A federal court jury began hearing testimony on Monday in a civil lawsuit brought by a former Columbus (Ohio) police dispatcher who claims she was forced out of her job because she protested the department's sick leave reporting policy. Teresa Ruby is asking for $700,000 in damages, saying her resignation came after a year of harassment from police officials. City officials say Ruby was attempting to avoid working mandatory overtime, and that she failed to follow the usual union-approved grievance procedures to resolve her issues. In a parallel lawsuit filed in 2008 by Ruby and several other dispatchers over police department sick leave reporting procedures a federal judge issued an injunction last July halting the city from requiring that dispatcher provide a doctor's note to line supervisors when they return from sick leave. A trial on that lawsuit is scheduled for March 8th. Meanwhile, the city's attorneys have appealed the injunction. In the current trial, the city's attorneys asked that Ruby's lawyer's be prohibited from introducing information about the medical privacy lawsuit, but the judge denied the motion. Download (pdf) the original lawsuit complaint and several other court documents here, and read about the first day of trial here. |
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Tuesday, February 2 2010 |
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The Gilbert (Ariz.) Police Department has released some of the logging tapes of radio traffic and 911 calls made last Thursday when Lt. Eric Shuhandler was shot and killed. Shuhandler made a traffic stop on two men in a white pick-up truck. After he determined one of the men had a warrant, he re-approached the vehicle and was fatally shot. Citizens used Shuhandler's radio and made 911 calls to call for help. Officers spotted the vehicle within minutes and were met with gunfire from the two men, and then chased them 43 miles east before they were captured. Read more and listen to the tapes here. |
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Monday, February 1 2010 |
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A 12 year-old Warren (Ohio) boy came out of the bathroom of his home, and came face-to-face with three burglars. They forced him to lie down while they loaded up their car with items from the home. As they fled, the boy jumped up and obtained a good description of the car, and then dialed 911. In a remarkable opening line, he told the dispatcher, "'I'm not in any danger right now, but it's urgent." He described the car and suspects, and a neighbor provided a direction of flight. Within 15 minutes officers spotted the vehicle, pulled it over and arrested the men. Property from the home was inside the car. Read more about the burglary here, and listen (mp3) to the 911 call here. |
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Monday, February 1 2010 |
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The CBS television series "48 Hours Mystery" profiled the murder of Walker County (Geo.) dispatcher Theresa Parker on Saturday, following the events leading up to her death and then the conviction of her husband on murder charges. The show focused on the many friends, family and co-workers who knew and loved Parker, and how it took one year to develop a murder case against her husband Sam. You can watch the entire show on-line here, along with some Web extras. |
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Monday, February 1 2010 |
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A Connecticut newspaper has thrown a spotlight on an on-going feud between officers and dispatchers at the town of Madison Police Department, documented by 160 pages of memos written over the last year. Newly-appointed police chief John Drumm is working to solve the dispute, which centers over alleged mistakes by dispatchers, and claims by the dispatchers that they're the scapegoat for officer errors. The comm center was operated by the police department until 2005, when it was moved administratively to the Emergency Management office. However, the center physically remained at the police department. The officers' complaints sometimes picked on typographical errors in the CAD entries, and which didn't affect locations or names. However, other errors included unverified locations and incomplete information. Read more here. |
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Wednesday, January 27 2010 |
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When Hernando County (Fla.) sheriff's dispatcher Milagros Ramos answered a 911 on Jan. 21st, she quickly connected with the caller, who was reporting that four persons had been shot. A dispute led John Kalisz to shoot his sister Kathryn and two employees at her home-based business. The sister and one employee didn't survive. One of the women was pregnent, and her baby also did not survive. But another woman dialed 911 and spoke to Ramos, who reassured the woman during an emotional 8-minute call that help was on the way. "I felt like I was there with her," Ramos told a reporter. "I was really afraid for her. It felt like a long time for me, too." Deputies responded immediately but took nearly eight minutes to arrive at the house. Kalisz sped away and was chased across four counties by deputies. He shot and killed a sheriff's deputy in an adjacent county two hours later before he was captured. Read more and listen to the extraordinary 911 call here. |
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Wednesday, January 27 2010 |
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A District of Columbia council member who stopped her car to inquire into someone lying on the sidewalk received an obvious answer from two bystanders—they pointed a handgun at her and told her to leave. In fact, the man on the ground was being robbed, and councilmember Yvette Alexander said it took too long for officers to arrive at the scene. She submitted her story to the District's committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary, who is looking into several complaints about slow police response times. In this case, a calltaker answered Alexander's 911 call reporting the incident within five seconds, and an officer was dispatched two minutes and 37 seconds later. It took an officer another 10 minutes to arrive, compared to the department's average of seven minutes and 14 seconds for priority incidents. Alexander said the Office of Unified Communications told her that the officer was given the incident as an "unconscious person" instead of a robbery just-prior. Read more and listen to the two 911 calls from Alexander and the victim here. |
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Wednesday, January 27 2010 |
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A Chatham County (NC) dispatcher told a woman being chased along a highway by her boyfriend to make a U-turn and head back towards officers headed her way. But now there are questions about whether that put the woman in even more jeopardy from the boyfriend. The woman dialed 911 as she hit 90 mph along the highway, but was headed away from the only available officers, who were trying to catch up to her. The dispatcher advised the woman to turn around, but the woman said she didn't want to make such a maneuver. Apex police said they never asked the dispatcher to re-route the motorist, and comm center officials admit it was the dispatcher's decision. The boyfriend shot several times at the woman's car before he crashed into a van, and then shot and killed himself before police arrived at the crash scene. The woman was unhurt. Read more about the incident here. |
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Wednesday, January 27 2010 |
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Officials at the Fayetteville (NC) police department will only say that "appropriate disciplinary action" has been taken for the mishandling of a 911 call last November involving a murder-suicide , but they won't say how many dispatchers were disciplined or who they are. Billy Maxwell Jr. killed his wife, son and daughter before shooting himself. Someone from the house dialed 911 at 6:39 p.m., but hung up before speaking. A dispatcher called the phone back, but the line was busy. A dispatcher made a second call to the number, but it was still busy. An officer was dispatched at 7:52 p.m., or one hour and 13 minutes after the first call. FPD policy requires two call-backs and a police dispatch within 20 minutes of the first 911 call. In a statement announcing the discipline, a city spokesperson said that the involved dispatchers also received additional training in the proper procedures. Read an editorial about the discipline here. |
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