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Philadelphia mayor - emergency workers to be fired
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Reuters
Nov 28, 1994, 3:30:09 PM11/28/94
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PHILADELPHIA (Reuter) - Three of 11 civilian employees
charged with mishandling police emergency calls that might have
prevented a teen-ager's murder will be fired, Mayor Ed Rendell
announced Monday.
Another four will receive lighter punishments, Rendell told
a news conference.
``The system clearly didn't work. There was human error,''
he said earlier on the NBC ``Today Show.''
Tapes and transcripts of the Nov. 11 incident show
increasingly agitated callers meeting indifferent or curt
responses when they telephoned the emergency 911 number to
report disturbances by a gang of youths in Philadephia's Fox
Chase neighborhood.
It was not until 40 minutes after the first of 19 calls was
placed that police were dispatched. By then, 16-year-old Eddie
Polec lay dying on the steps of St. Cecilia's Church, severly
beaten by baseball bats.
Five teenagers from the prosperous Philadelphia suburb of
Abington have been arrested in connection with the killing,
reportedly sparked by a false rumor that a girl from their
neighborhood had been raped.
Rendell called the handling of the calls abusive and rude
and said the incident showed the need for a complete overhaul of
the emergency system.
The callers, he said, ``were upset, understandably upset,
(and) were trying to do their job as good citizens.''
Three of the 11 who took calls related to the incident would
be suspended with intent to dismiss for their alleged rudeness
to the callers. Another three would be suspended for 30 days,
then transfered, for mistakes in coding the calls. The case of
one operator would be investigated further.
Rendell also said he would hire new operators, increase
supervision and training, and revise the computerized system
which tracks calls and assigns priority for police dispatchers.
A special review committee would study the system and recommend
further changes later, he said.
City Councilman Brian O'Neill called for an immediate
overhaul of a system he described as ``dysfunctional'' in
Philadelphia but not in other cities. ``This was an avoidable
problem,'' he said.
charged with mishandling police emergency calls that might have
prevented a teen-ager's murder will be fired, Mayor Ed Rendell
announced Monday.
Another four will receive lighter punishments, Rendell told
a news conference.
``The system clearly didn't work. There was human error,''
he said earlier on the NBC ``Today Show.''
Tapes and transcripts of the Nov. 11 incident show
increasingly agitated callers meeting indifferent or curt
responses when they telephoned the emergency 911 number to
report disturbances by a gang of youths in Philadephia's Fox
Chase neighborhood.
It was not until 40 minutes after the first of 19 calls was
placed that police were dispatched. By then, 16-year-old Eddie
Polec lay dying on the steps of St. Cecilia's Church, severly
beaten by baseball bats.
Five teenagers from the prosperous Philadelphia suburb of
Abington have been arrested in connection with the killing,
reportedly sparked by a false rumor that a girl from their
neighborhood had been raped.
Rendell called the handling of the calls abusive and rude
and said the incident showed the need for a complete overhaul of
the emergency system.
The callers, he said, ``were upset, understandably upset,
(and) were trying to do their job as good citizens.''
Three of the 11 who took calls related to the incident would
be suspended with intent to dismiss for their alleged rudeness
to the callers. Another three would be suspended for 30 days,
then transfered, for mistakes in coding the calls. The case of
one operator would be investigated further.
Rendell also said he would hire new operators, increase
supervision and training, and revise the computerized system
which tracks calls and assigns priority for police dispatchers.
A special review committee would study the system and recommend
further changes later, he said.
City Councilman Brian O'Neill called for an immediate
overhaul of a system he described as ``dysfunctional'' in
Philadelphia but not in other cities. ``This was an avoidable
problem,'' he said.
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