Is there a problem with Denver 911?

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natedawg1604

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New police policies could have changed Observatory Park response - The Denver Post


Have any of these reporters actually listened to Denver PD dispatch channels for any length of time? In general it seems like Denver often airs too much information over the radio, perhaps because they often have many calls pending at once, and they frequently divert officers from one call to another. I'm not saying they shouldn't have aired more information about this particular call, but in general they already seem to air a lot of information about most calls.

Also, a lot of Denver's domestic calls seem to be very confusing and, um, messy (i.e. anonymous/refused RP calling about a cousin's girlfriend reporting she heard her brother in the unit below her being stabbed by his ex-wife who then fled somewhere else on foot, and the RP hangs up without giving suspect descriptions or building numbers. Officers show up quickly and report hostile witnesses who provide no information, so they leave. Then the anonymous RP calls back 30 minutes later screaming about why no one came to help her cousin, etc etc...)
 

dw2872

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The new policy doesn't even matter if they still aren't using them... It's all talk and public relations spin.

The same district (DPD district-3) that handled the Kirk shooting also handled a suicidal threat call from Dillon Redwine's father Mark, early yesterday morning.

He was traveling around since he had lost his home and called a friend who called DPD saying he was in the intersection of Fox St and Elsworth Ave and surrounded by SWAT and helicopters (obviously hallucinating). He also said he had a shotgun and had been drinking. He said he also had a rifle he bought in Grand Junction.

The call was aired at 2:17 but no cars were available and the dispatcher aired it again at 2:23 (6 minutes after being aired and nobody was even enroute) and the Sgt finally said he would respond.

An officer eventually arrived at 2:40 am (about 25 minutes after the 911 call came in). No Code-10 mentioned or heard.

DPD District-3 has not learned any lessons or followed any new policies. These new DPD and Denver-911 dispatch policies don't mean a thing unless they follow them.


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ecanderson

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What WERE the criteria for up'ing a call to a Code 10 prior to these new policies? Finger on trigger of nuclear weapon?
 

natedawg1604

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I suspect the issue of whether/when/how officers go 9 or 10 is a red herring, the real issue seems to be a lack of officers to respond at all.
 

ecanderson

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It's both, Nate. If the prioritization is right, then you take what little resource you have and throw it at the worst events.
 

n0doz

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Another part of the situation is that the ability of cops to turn on the lights and siren has been severely curtailed in recent years. The individual has much less discretion on when to speed it up and one's experience is not taken into consideration. Granted, there have been far too many crashes - last I saw was an average of one per day, every day of the year - but IMHO blanket policies tend to make people overly cautious when sometimes you have to push the envelope a little to get the job done. Not saying take chances but they didn't take the job to watch everyone else get there first.
How's that for tiptoeing around the edges? Heh....
 

dw2872

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I think 9News is just a little bit behind the curve...

KDVR already did a story that says the "new and improved" CAD system implemented at the beginning of April was not updating the dispatchers with entry notes that were being typed by call takers (the ones 9News is talking about). How can the dispatcher tell officers if she doesn't get the updates?

Even worse, dispatchers had been complaining about that for weeks. Some officers were even getting calls popping up on their MDTs before the dispatchers got them. That is just crazy.

Denver 911 dispatch center software glitch might put lives at risk | KDVR.com - Denver, Colorado News, Weather, Sports and more
 

lazierfan

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The DPD spokesman told viewers the breakdown in typing vs. dispatch broadcasting. A significant point in the story, though KDVR's is compelling, it blames the computer/software/programmers, and the DPD spokesman already has a dispatcher scapegoat that got reprimanded. All equal points in the story, IMHO.
 

natedawg1604

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I think 9News is just a little bit behind the curve...

KDVR already did a story that says the "new and improved" CAD system implemented at the beginning of April was not updating the dispatchers with entry notes that were being typed by call takers (the ones 9News is talking about). How can the dispatcher tell officers if she doesn't get the updates?

Even worse, dispatchers had been complaining about that for weeks. Some officers were even getting calls popping up on their MDTs before the dispatchers got them. That is just crazy.

Denver 911 dispatch center software glitch might put lives at risk | KDVR.com - Denver, Colorado News, Weather, Sports and more

Why the H*($ didn't they test the updates in a simulated environment FIRST, before deploying them into a production environment?? This is not exactly like upgrading software at an accounting office where the worst-case scenario involves lost employee productivity or the like.

Also, seems like the new CAD system was and is constantly crashing, units constantly complain about having re-log out/in or restart computers. Speaking of which, does the new CAD system depend on wireless network connectivity with remote servers run by some out-of-state company?
 
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dw2872

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The DPD spokesman told viewers the breakdown in typing vs. dispatch broadcasting. A significant point in the story, though KDVR's is compelling, it blames the computer/software/programmers, and the DPD spokesman already has a dispatcher scapegoat that got reprimanded. All equal points in the story, IMHO.

True. But the spokesman and the chief probably didn't even know about the glitch the dispatchers had been complaining about at that time. Half the time, neither of them know what is really going on anyway.
 
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rfburns

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Follow the money trail. Who is making money from the software overlays?

If Dispatch is truly autonomous, why isn't their PIO/Spokesperson talking?

What are the TV investigative reporters waiting for now?
 

ecanderson

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That said, the response may well have been quicker at that specific point in time had all of the information been made available to responding officers. That this particular call hit the 'average' for a particular class of call is irrelevant. "Seconds count", and all that...
 

dw2872

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The police chief opened a can of worms by going after the dispatcher. Now the patrol officers will probably get what they have been asking requesting for a while now... more manpower. Even though the chief has been trying to do more with less and that may not even be what caused this incident to turn out badly anyway.
 
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