Unbelievable Police Dispatch recording - Triple Murder

[NeoConsSuck]

a frantic lady calls to report a triple murder, and they tell this lady to go back into the murder scene to check on the victims, without caring if the murderer is still at the scene! The Albany DA had refused to release the audio recording until a F.O.I.L forced them.

http://blogs.timesunion.com/crime/?p=906#comments

Someone (more than one) should lose their job.

[ccharles000]

1. If I was her I would tell them to go fuck themselves.

I would not go to any murder scene if the killer might still be there.

[barbtries]

2. that is completely whack

they won't even let the paramedics enter a crime scene until the police have secured it. in los angeles i can think of two cases right off the top of my head where the victims might have lived if the police had not prevented help from getting to them until they had taped off the scene. it seems as if they put someone on the phones without training or even common sense. (disclaimer: i didn't listen to the tape, just going on what the OP said)

[barbtries]

3. omigawd

how unbearably frustrating for her. what the fuck?

[Jeep789]

4. Doesn't surprise me. I once called when I heard shots in our alley

(old house - not a great neighborhood) and the dispatcher told me that the police were in the location and wanted me to check if any of them had been shot. I said, "excuse me, you want ME to go out where the gun shots are happening to see if anyone has been hit yet?"

The dispatcher then decided that maybe I should just stay inside.

[Historic NY]

5. Stupidity reigns.

[vadawg]

6. hell even i would wait for some backup before entering the scene

I sure as hell aint going to send a civilian in, although theres more than a few review board members that i would love to have the opportunity to send in.

[NashVegas]

7. I Read The Entire Transcript

All I see is a dispatcher doing their job.

It may seem callous to you, but they have to guard against prank calls. Getting people to repeat information like that is also a great way of helping someone who's screaming on the phone to calm down and relay important information.

[LeftyFingerPop]

8. Surely you're joking...

The risk of responding to a prank call is greater than the risk of NOT responding to a likely homicide? Is that what you are saying?

They had the address...they should have been dispatched immediately.

[NeoConsSuck]

9. Then your reading comprehension is horrible

They told her to go back INTO THE APARTMENT of a triple murder! And if she walked in, and the murderer was still there and she was murdered, what would your response be? An unfortunate turn of events?

[NashVegas]

10. I Think It Was Reasonable

To assume the persons responsible for the crime were long gone.

People who are looking for something to get offended over usually do.

I'm from that area, I grew up there, and I know what the people are like. They can and expect others to operate in a crisis. These are people who will shovel three feet of snow from their driveway just to get a cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee.


CONTROL OF CONVERSATION

It's important that you maintain control of all telephone conversations, so that you obtain all the necessary information in the least amount of time. Talkative or insistent callers are difficult to question and may take a longer time to handle.

The caller usually knows what occurred, but not how to report it to the police. It's up to you to direct the caller's knowledge into meaningful answers. You may tell the person "Slow down for a moment. Let me ask you some questions," or "Take a deep breath, sir, and let me ask you some questions." Anything that will momentarily divert them, yet let them know that you are going to help them, will assist in maintaining control.

The most effective tactic is asking short, specific questions, such as their name, address, telephone number, where they are, etc. The questions should obtain relevant information and should maintain a "flow" free of interruptions. If you pause too long or become sidetracked with other duties, control of the conversation will end and you'll have to re-establish it.

[vadawg]

11. hell to assume the perp is gone is what will get you killed

even the popo dont assume the perp is gone, they would hold a perimeter, wait for backup and then go in team handed.

[NashVegas]

12. "I've Been Calling My Boyfriend All Night"

From the transcript. Killer(s) most likely long gone.

[vadawg]

13. Once again as someone who has to go in the door, you dont assume anything

the killer could be sitting on the floor with the gun contemplating ending it all, or hiding in a cupboard. I love how you have the confidence to state that the killer always leaves the scene.

[NashVegas]

14. She'd Already Been There and Walked Out Alive

"someone on the internet is wrong!"

[vadawg]

15. lol your still missing the point, even if 10 people had been through the house

the popo will still go in ready for bear to conduct a proper search, its not unheard of killers being found hiding on the scene.

[acmavm]

16. Well hell, then I guess we don't need to damn boys in blue, we'll all just go

in and check out scenes of violence so the little darlins don't have to do it.

Calm the woman down my ass. A patrol car pulling up to the scene surely would have done that better than any incompetent moran on the other end of a phone telling her to go back into that carnage.

[myrna minx]

18. Do you really think a murderer is going to answer the victims phone?

It is completely unprofessional and irresponsible to ask a lay person to *drive back* to a crime scene to check the homicide victims. The perpetrator could still be there, even if you think based upon your deduction that the perpetrator left because he didn't answer his victims phone. So she, as a victim and a untrained crime scene professional should traipse through a crime scene, contaminating evidence? Your justifications are quite perplexing.

[NashVegas]

20. Nope

I don't have my hands on the Albany 911 training manual, but I can tell enough from the transcript to see that the dispatcher had reason to believe, initially, the caller was inside the house and at the crime scene when she was first asked, as other manuals state, to describe the scene exactly as she saw it.

And again, because the caller said "All night," it is reasonable to assume it's not a hot call.

I wouldn't have advised her to go inside, but I'm sure as hell not going to jump on someone who asked her if she could in the course of their job. If my justifications perplex you, your and others' posturing and outrage baffles me. Two operators appear to have been following their training, and what appears to be universally advised training for dealing with hysterical callers.

On second thought, it's not that baffling, really.

[madaboutharry]

17. Contamination of a crime scene is

what comes to mind.

[Renew Deal]

19. I read the transcript and I don't see anything wrong.

It's very confusing when it's all happening live. First she says that she found the three dead, then she said she's driving home. She's not letting the dispatcher say much and they are trying the best they can, though there was no need to ask her name so many times.

[NashVegas]

21. Thank You

I can't believe how willing people are to jump all over a dispatcher's case without putting themselves in their shoes.

[Renew Deal]

22. If someone was waiting to kill her, she's already be dead.

So that criticism makes no sense.

[NashVegas]

23. Aye

People up there ... if it's not *their* crisis (and often when it is), are *very* easily able to push emotions aside and get on with things. If you haven't seen the movie "Frozen River," it demonstrates the upstate NY crisis mentality quite well.

[psychmommy]

24. no way they should have asked her to go back in.

she could have described the scene the best she could. murderer could have known them and because they killed the other occupants could've waited for her. that was not safe. thank God i live where i do. if you hang up on 911, a cop is coming to your home. i think the the attitude of the 911 operator or dispatcher comes through on the call. the fact that no sirens could be heard is disturbing. this reminds me of flav's little ditty-911 is a joke. i am sure that this is not always a pleasant job. i love to hear the stories where they talk people through delivering a baby or saving someone who is injured. but, it so disturbs when people are treated like they don't matter. there are plenty of folks out of work that would love to have that job, there are benefits and a decent wage.