Brittany Zimmermann's 911 Call

UPDATE, June 18, 2008: "Zimmermann's parents intervene in 911 suit"
________________

It must be incredibly painful for UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann's loved ones to deal with her unsolved murder.

Learning that she called 911 and no one responded must be unbearable.

From the Wisconsin State Journal:

Dane County's 911 Center director admitted late Thursday that his agency made a mistake in fumbling a call from Brittany Zimmermann's cell phone at about the time she was killed on April 2.

But after a month of internal investigation, the dispatcher who hung up on the call, after hearing nothing, remains on the job without disciplinary action, and the agency has made no changes in policy, training or procedure, director Joseph Norwick acknowledged.

An internal investigation has begun, and dispatchers were reminded of the policy to call back when a 911 caller hangs up or is disconnected, he said.

"Hindsight is a great thing," Norwick said after a long day of fielding questions and criticism.

Zimmermann's body was found in her apartment on West Doty Street in the middle of the day, not long after she returned home from class. Someone forced entry into her building and she died of "a complexity of traumatic injuries," the coroner said. An official familiar with the investigation said she was stabbed.

Police say they don't have any suspects, that Zimmermann had no enemies and that the killer may still be in Madison. Her killing and four other unsolved homicides in the past 10 months have heightened public safety concerns.

Investigators have kept almost everything about the killing cloaked in secrecy, saying that to do otherwise would make solving the case more difficult.

The gaffe at the 911 center, disclosed Thursday by the weekly newspaper Isthmus, prompted a news conference by Norwick and by Madison Police Chief Noble Wray, but many questions remain unanswered.

Norwick denied the 911 Center has tried to cover up the operator's oversight, despite the month that has passed since Zimmermann was killed.

"I don't think there is anything to apologize for at this time," he said.

No?

How about botching the call and not following procedures?

That doesn't deserve an apology?

...Norwick said the dispatcher got busy with other calls and forgot to call back to Zimmermann's phone.

"Other 911 calls were waiting," he said.

"But had we called it back and got the same result — or if we got somebody's voice mail — we probably wouldn't have sent anybody anyway," Norwick said.

No. Had the dispatcher called back then there wouldn't be questions about the improper handling of the call. There would be no doubts.

It was wrong for the 911 operator to ignore the call.

There's no way of knowing whether Zimmermann would have responded had there been a call back.

Maybe such a call would have saved her life.

...Norwick said Madison police told the call center not to routinely dispatch officers after cell-phone "hang-up calls" because of the difficulty of finding addresses.

Wray, however, said the 911 center ignored evidence in the call "which should have resulted in a Madison police officer being dispatched."

The county dispatch center has sufficient technology to track cell-phone locations, Wray said.

Falk said the 911 Center uses the latest technology, but the level of precision in tracing cell phones can vary.

When a 911 hang-up call is from a phone on the land-line system, Norwick said, dispatchers can see the address on a display and police are automatically dispatched.

Cell phone calls don't display the caller's address on 911 equipment.

That's irrelevant.

A call back was in order.

...Dane County Board Chairman Scott McDonell said he didn't have enough information to comment on the actions of the 911 staff.

"We need to fix any problems that exist, and we will," McDonell said.

He also said he was upset that Thursday's news was playing out like an interdepartmental battle, and a distraction from solving a crime that took place in his district.

"It seems like people's energies are focused on passing blame instead of trying to find the killer," McDonell said. "Nothing is going to change what happened on that day and how we're going to catch someone who is on the loose."

Sorry, but this is lame.

The homicide investigators aren't being distracted by this discussion. I'm sure they're going about their business.

It is of extreme importance to citizens that 911 calls be handled properly.

I don't think energies are focused on passing blame. Energies are focused on expecting the institutions charged with protecting citizens to function properly.