Colorado’s governor, Denver’s mayor and other dignitaries receive a more robust Denver police response than the public under new rules recently adopted by the city’s 911 system.
The policy change, which went into effect at the end of December, requires Denver police dispatchers to notify a patrol supervisor when “Federal, State or Local Dignitaries (such as the Mayor or Governor) or personnel within their office requests or requires a police response on the dignitary’s behalf.”
By comparison, Aurora dispatch doesn’t have such a policy.
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock’s office in October complained about having to wait for more than 35 minutes for a dispatcher to send a patrol unit to respond to a burglary report from the office.
That incident culminated in the firing of the dispatcher, who contends the mayor’s office should have had to wait like everyone else for police resources to become available.
Rowena Alegria, Hancock’s director of communications, said the mayor’s office did not seek the firing. The mayor also did not request the new policy, she said.
Under police-dispatch policies for the public, dispatchers are supposed to first try to deploy precinct police patrols for non-emergency calls and then go down a list of potential alternative police resources if precinct units are busy. Dispatchers inform patrol supervisors after an hour passes without response, and then each hour after that.
Daelene Mix, director of communications for the city’s safety department, said the policy change was not prompted by the handling of the burglary report from the mayor’s office.
“It was done to ensure appropriate awareness,” Mix said. “It makes sense that patrol supervisors should be informed when a dignitary’s safety may be compromised, as dignitaries move all over the city and patrol supervisors are rarely aware of their location unless notified.”
She added that enhanced patrol supervisor notifications are given to calls received from the public in some instances such as Amber alerts or domestic-violence situations involving a weapon.
High-profile incidents
Denver’s 911 system has come under criticism for its emergency response in three high-profile incidents that ended in deaths. In an April 14 incident, a Denver police officer asked a 911 dispatcher to “step up cover” after he realized the dispatcher hadn’t communicated the urgency of a domestic-violence call during which the woman was shot dead, documents show.
A Sudanese refugee was fatally shot in February 2012 after a dispatcher violated policy and directed him back into Denver toward the scene of a crime he was trying to report. In November, a Denver 911 police dispatcher resigned after questions about the handling of a domestic-violence report that ended in a woman’s slaying.
In the case involving the mayor’s office, Carl Simpson, director of Denver’s 911 system, fired dispatcher Traci Rhodes on April 9 in part for her handling of the burglary report.
Simpson stated in his termination letter to Rhodes that the mayor’s office was unhappy with how she handled her dispatching duties on Oct. 31.
After calling to report the burglary, the mayor’s staff waited for police to respond for more than 35 minutes, Simpson stated in the letter. Rhodes had been responsible for dispatching service to the mayor’s office, but did not do so immediately. An official in the mayor’s office called to complain to Mary Beth Klee, the police department’s deputy chief of administration.
After that complaint, Klee called 911 operations, and a 911 supervisor ordered Rhodes to dispatch a police unit immediately to handle the report from the mayor’s office, and Rhodes did so.
Simpson said in the letter that Rhodes had violated a policy that requires dispatchers to “assess each incident and recognize its importance by viewing it through the customer’s perspective.”
“The city attorney and a facility maintenance employee were responding to meet with the responding officer,” Simpson continued. “You should have recognized that this burglary was a possible security breach to the mayor’s office. You should have recognized the importance of dispatching this incident.”
Letters of support
Rhodes, in her defense, submitted four letters of support from Denver police officers. She also said that the mayor’s office had waited for more than three hours to report what she interpreted to be a cold theft. She said she thought police were busy with other more urgent issues: a noninjury motor-vehicle accident and a report of an aggressive homeless man.
“I thought for cold reports I was supposed to hold for a precinct car to ensure precinct integrity and to eliminate officers running across districts,” Rhodes said in a recent interview with The Denver Post.
Simpson said Rhodes should have acted much more quickly. He said officers were available.
“By your own admission, there may have been a security breach as a result of the theft and it should have been treated with more urgency,” Simpson stated.
Rhodes had other performance deficiencies, according to Simpson’s letter, including failing to use standardized dispatching methods and a Feb. 5 incident in which she left a dispatch station unmonitored for more than three minutes.
“Normal citizens don’t call Chief Klee’s office and ask for an estimated time of arrival,” Rhodes told The Post. “And normally, 911 supervisors don’t get involved in failure to appears and tell you to dispatch.”
She added: “On any given day, if someone calls in and says they want an ETA, a dispatcher will just say that we’re sorry for the delay in response, but we’ve been busy and and we’ll get someone out there as soon as we can.”
Gloria Glidden, a former Denver dispatcher who retired in October, said enhanced service for elected officials didn’t exist during her nearly 15 years with the city.
“Of course, if the mayor’s office has something going on that involves threats or bodily harm or a problem that will affect the city in any way or their operation, absolutely you need to send a car,” Glidden said. “But I don’t think they should come above and beyond what a normal taxpaying citizen asks for in terms of help.”
Christopher N. Osher: 303-954-1747, cosher@denverpost.com or twitter.com/chrisosher
