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February 8, 2012 in News
911 call taker broke protocol in Starbuck homicide
Spokane county officials said an investigation into the December homicide of a Deer Park woman revealed a call to the 911 communications center from the victim’s cell phone was not forwarded to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office for investigation, which is protocol.
The break in protocol was made by a long-term 911 call taker, according to a Spokane County news release. When the center received a hang-up call from Chanin Starbuck’s cell phone, the dispatcher should have followed up and called back twice before forwarding the information to the sheriff’s office.
The unidentified dispatcher only tried to call back once, the news release said, and the information was never given to authorities to investigate.
“We learned of the mistake while making evidential recordings for major crimes detectives,” said 911 Director Lorlee Mizell.
Hang-up calls fall into two categories. A Phase One call gives the dispatcher the cell phone number and the cellular tower location. A Phase Two call gives the number, as well as the latitude and longitude of the call. The call from Starbuck’s phone fell into the Phase Two category, the news release said.
All call takers and supervisors will receive a hang-up call refresher on Monday, and the issue will be addressed again at an upcoming supervisors meeting, Mizell said. A third session on how to handle hang-up calls will be held at the next monthly training meeting.
The 911 center received more than 1,700 hang-up calls in January, the news release said. About 900 were Phase One calls and another 280 were Phase Two. The remaining calls were tracked to the caller’s cell phone and resolved.
Mizell said “we addressed it with the call taker December 27,” but it is unknown whether that means the dispatcher was fired.
This story is developing.
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Albert on February 08 at 4:33 p.m.
You must be kidding. NO follow up? Could this needless killing have been stopped if proper protocol had been followed? Re-training? NO WAY - this person needs to go for their willful negligence. Needless to say, here comes yet another lawsuit.
onetimeuser on February 08 at 5:28 p.m.
Albert: It did say that the dispatcher called back once, but still…
Albert on February 08 at 6:08 p.m.
@onetimeuser…understand friend…however what if the call was from a person suffering a heart attack who could not talk, or inadvertently hit the incorrect key? In this case the victim was in the process of getting killed. At least a notification to the Sheriff’s Department for a welfare check would have been in order. To ignore the call to 911 is without excuse. Somebody should have been notified and dispatched if the call did not go through.
I’ve had a couple of heart attacks and dialed 911. Thank God someone answered and dispatched the SFD.
liveinfearoftheSPD on February 08 at 6:50 p.m.
I heard on the squawk box that the dispatcher has worked there for a good number of years. Since this is his first offence he will be getting the lowest level of discipline. :(
Slightlyworried on February 08 at 7:09 p.m.
They can’t exactly discipline this person while completely letting off the hook the six officers who murdered Otto. I mean, if you can’t get fired for: (1) hog-tieing someone in violation of department policy, (2) placing them on their stomach in violation of department policy, (3) placing a non-rebreather mask over their face in violation of department policy, and (4) lying about it afterwards, how can you possibly discipline the dispatcher?
Adelaide on February 08 at 7:56 p.m.
The non rebreather mask was placed by a firefighter, not a police officer.
The biggest problem was that she called from a cell phone, they did not have an exact location. Just what the closest cell tower was and an approximate latitude and longitude. I have no idea what kind of neighborhood the house was in, but in a residential area that could mean knocking on the doors of at least several houses. If no one answers the door, they move on. Following protocol would not have changed things.
According to the numbers they receive more than 2 hang up calls an hour. No one is going to be able to follow protocol 100% of the time, humans make mistakes. The only reason this has become public is because it is a high profile case.
Otto_Pilot on February 08 at 8:08 p.m.
@ Slightlyworried
You called?
Slightlyworried on February 08 at 8:47 p.m.
@Adelaide:
I think you are wrong about the non-rebreather mask. I believe the testimony was that a police officer had gotten it from a paramedia on a date prior to the incident. I also believe the testimony from the paramedics who arrived on sence that night found it already on Otto’s face (these are the same paramedics who found Otto in complete cardiac arrest). I do not remember any testimony that any firefighters arrived before the paramedics.
But regardless of who placed it on Otto’s face, he was in the care, custody and control of those six officers. Either one of them placed it there in violation of departmental policy or they allowed someone to place it there in violation of departmental policy. And yet nothing has happened to them.
Slightlyworried on February 08 at 8:48 p.m.
@Otto_Pilot
Glad to see that you are doing well.
misjustice on February 08 at 8:55 p.m.
I feel so bad for Ms.Starbuck, her family, her friends, and especially her children. It is disheartening to learn that 9-1-1 calls, which we all depend on in an emergency, can fail to be followed through on.
@ Albert, I am glad that you had a good outcome; would miss having you/your voice here!
; )
Adelaide on February 08 at 9:30 p.m.
@ Slightlyworried
It was one of the firefighters, and SFD arrived on scene with a paramedic before the ambulance did. By the time the ambulance arrived on scene the mask was already on his face.
Believe me when I say that almost everyone who is aware of this detail does not know how the firefighter has escaped public scrutiny. It goes to show how much the media demonizes police officers and hero-worships firefighters.
He may have been in the custody of the police officers, but he was in the care of the paramedic on scene. The police called for medics for a reason, because they believed he needed medical attention before he ever went into cardiac arrest. It was the paramedic’s responsibility to assess and treat any threats to Otto’s health. That includes making sure he is breathing effectively, and it is pretty obvious that didn’t happen.
lewis8457 on February 09 at 7:46 a.m.
they could easily fire the operator try to remember the city and police have stayed with their original conviction Otto caused his own death by being a disabled janitor who could be put down like any one of us, cause he wasn’t a cop.