On Wednesday, April 2, University of Wisconsin junior Brittany Zimmermann was stabbed in her home on West Doty Street in downtown Madison. The tragic event sent the entire UW campus into sadness and shock, as the daytime event sparked fear particularly into students living southeast of campus. Since then, many questions remain as to who committed the crime and why. For better or worse, the Madison Police Department has not revealed a wealth of information relating to the homicide, leaving the crime unsolved and a campus yearning for information.
On Monday, Nov. 3, 37-year-old Madison resident Mark Gregory was killed at Lake Edge Park on the east side of Madison. Police found him at the park after receiving a 911 call around 11 p.m. of a dead body found in the area. Since then, 46-year-old Michael Voltz has been arrested in connection with the incident.
As has been widely publicized, the Dane County 911 Center failed to dispatch authorities to the scenes of both these crimes prior to the killings. In the Zimmermann case, a phone call was placed to 911 from the UW student’s cell phone prior to her death. And over an hour before Gregory’s body was found at Lake Edge Park, a resident in the area called police twice to complain of loud noises coming from the park in an apparent connection to the homicide.
“The call was called at a non-emergency number but … the 911 Center did pick up the telephone and process the call, but they didn’t follow the procedures as they should have,” Madison Ald. Larry Palm, District 15, told The Badger Herald, adding a new policy since April was not followed.
In both these cases, leaders of both Madison and Dane County have thrown blame around without actually taking full responsibility for one of the only clear facts in these cases: They really screwed up.
The problem lies primarily with the 911 Center, which is run by Dane County, not the city of Madison or the Madison Police Department. Thankfully, the 911 Center’s director at the time of Zimmermann’s death — Joe Norwick — resigned in September. In April, Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk promised changes in both training and personnel qualifications. In the seven months between the two homicides, the 911 Center clearly didn’t manage to get all the kinks worked out.
From here on out, it is time for Falk to be the one held accountable. An external audit of the 911 Center found dispatchers were overworked, and its former director is now out the picture. With the Dane County Board of Supervisors doing its part Monday in allotting funding for nine additional 911 Center staffers — three more than Falk proposed in her initial budget — any more mistakes fall on the shoulders of Falk herself.
As Dane County‘s top official, it is her responsibility to assure residents when an emergency call is placed or signs point to a potential life-threatening crime, law enforcement will be dispatched to help. As a Madison resident myself, I’m not fully confident that is the case at this point.
Falk’s call for reform should be applauded, but it’s also time to get it right. While prompt and adequate responses to the calls in the Zimmermann and Gregory cases may not have necessarily saved either of their lives, the fact that these calls were mishandled in the first place is beyond unacceptable.
A 911 service is perhaps the most important public service Dane County can provide its residents, so Ms. Falk, take some personal responsibility and get it fixed. Find the most qualified individual you possibly can to replace Norwick, move swiftly in hiring the 911 Center’s additional workers and make sure they are properly trained this time. I know it may not be easy, but you are up for re-election in April, and if you want my vote, you’ll assure me that this is your top priority and that you’re getting the job done right this time.
Enough is enough, and it is time for Falk to be held accountable for the 911 Center’s egregious mistakes. The count is 0-2 against her. Three strikes and, well, you know.
Tom Schalmo ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in journalism.
