In a report released Friday, Dane County officials acknowledged that errors occurred at the 911 Center when handling calls before a Nov. 3 death, the second time this year the center committed a fault related to a Madison homicide.
The investigative report from Dane County Public Safety Communications said the 911 Center made three errors before Mark Gregory Johnson, 37, was found dead in Lake Edge Park on Madison's east side last week. The center failed to dispatch police after receiving two calls about a noise disturbance in the park that led to a fight and Johnson being beaten to death.
The 911 Center also came under fire after the April 2 homicide of UW-Madison junior Brittany Zimmermann, when then-911 Center Director Joe Norwick admitted that a dispatcher made an error by not returning a call made from Zimmermann's cell phone or sending police the day of her death.
In a memo sent to Public Safety Communications Center Interim Director Kathy Krusiec, Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk said one of the biggest issues facing the 911 Center is properly dispatching the 85 police, fire and medical emergency services throughout the county.
While we rightly strive to offer service tailored to each service's requests, our first and paramount responsibility is to public safety,"" Falk said in the memo. ""I am concerned that communicators' need to continually know and weigh these different rules sometimes hinders their ability to make as timely decisions as they must. Any such hindrance is unacceptable.""
Falk recommended a series of steps for the center to take following the errors, including conducting a three-to-six-month review of existing law enforcement dispatch procedures. Until the review is complete, Falk said 911 communicators and supervisors should be instructed to dispatch all calls requesting police service if there is any doubt that anyone's safety is at risk.
Madison Police Assistant Chief Randy Gaber maintained confidence in the 911 Center's ability to properly dispatch officers despite the admitted errors last week and earlier in the year.
""There's a lot of things going on throughout the city, and so mistakes can happen and errors will occur,"" Gaber said. ""We will continue to work with them and try to get through these events.
