Audio: 911 tapes of fatal May police chase

[713]

This story has links to the dispatch audio for the Huntsville police chase that ended in a bystander(bydriver) fatality on Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville.

http://blog.al.com/breaking/2008/07/audio_tapes_of_fatal_may_polic.html

The first link is the telephone call between Madison Co. 911 and Redstone 911.
The third link is the the west precinct talkgroup which is where the pursuit was being worked.

I wonder how this will affect the interop comms between HSV and RSA? Although dead air time is obviously not present in the recording, it is apparent that there isn't much time between when the officers realize a pursuit is headed toward a gate and the time it reaches the gate.

 

[TechnoDave]

FOLLOW-UP

Army Changes Policies After Fatal Pursuit
Wednesday, July 30 2008
The pursuit of a drug dealing suspect by Huntsville (Ala.) police led into the U.S. Army's huge Redstone Arsenal, and eventually into a fatal collision with another vehicle. Now HPD and Army officials say they will adjust their procedures for handling pursuits to better inform the Arsenal's 911 center so the facilities gates are better protected. Logging tapes show that HPD dispatchers didn't notify Army dispatchers until just a second before the suspect's vehicle blew through Gate #1 at the Arsenal. The two agencies say that the Arsenal dispatchers will now be notified of all pursuits within the city, and Army dispatchers will more closely monitor HPD's radio channels. Agencies in the county have planned a new 800 MHz trunked radio system that would link all public safety. Note the very first response from the dispatcher when the police unit reports he is pursuing the suspect.

 

[TechnoDave]

Here's the entire story from The Huntsville Times:
http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/news/121716810380780.xml&coll=1

 

[SAR923]

Given the serpentine barriers I see at Maxwell AFB, I'm surprised any vehicle should have "blown by" a gate at a military installation. Any vehicle going faster than 10 mph would never be able to get on Maxwell without colliding with some K rail barriers. It sounds like Redstone needs to reevaluate their barrier system since this could have been a terrorist breach the gate instead of a dope dealer. From the newspaper story, it sounds like they are in the process of doing this but it's now almost seven years after 9/11 and this should have been completed a long time ago.

The other question I have, besides whether the pursuit should have been terminated, is what are the orders for the gate guards at Redstone? If this car had been packed with explosives, things could have turned out way worse than they did. It seems that the standing order should have been to open fire on any vehicle that doesn't stop at the gate. The story makes no mention of this happening. It doesn't do much good to have armed guards (I'm assuming they are armed and authorized to use deadly force) at a gate if they just stand there with mouths open when a car blows by them.

Just as an aside, this is where a helicopter could have really helped. Just back off and let the helicopter follow. Slows the suspects down and they still eventually get caught.