The death of a promising, bright young student is a tragic tear in Madison’s reputation. It should serve as a reminder to our city that it has a responsibility to protect its residents, and there is no option other than to uphold that responsibility to the highest standard.

This murder, however, absolutely should not stand as a bargaining chip in a local campaign for Dane County executive. I’ve found it troubling in the past few weeks to hear radio commercials touting Nancy Mistele’s plans for Madison. Yet instead of hearing plans for Madison, all I’ve heard is “911, 911, 911.”

As the vicious and unjustified stabbing and murder of Brittany Zimmermann reaches a year without a conviction, Madison residents are left feeling frustrated, angry and clamoring for change. The majority of the blame has unfortunately fallen on the shoulders of current Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk.

The handling of the 911 call from Zimmermann’s cell phone was inexcusably disastrous. Mandatory overtime as a way to cut costs should be kept farther away from a 911 call center than a match to gasoline — the dangers of both being equally explosive.

The fact that at the time of Zimmermann’s death, the average Dane County 911 call center employee was putting in 33 hours of overtime per month is appalling. Call center employees had repeatedly issued complaints about the issue, yet their requests were ignored. Dispatch center problems were also brought up in the Madison Police Captain’s 2004 strategic plan, but never addressed.

Since details have emerged over the past year, 14 new employees have been hired, and much stricter, very necessary quality control measures have been implemented, such as call and volume monitoring. Falk and other officials worked to implement these changes as quickly and carefully as possible.

While a heavy portion of the 911 Center is indeed the responsibility of Dane County executive, it is illogical and incorrect to insist Falk is solely responsible for Zimmermann’s death — that designation can only be held by her attacker. Although Mistele may not have said this directly, she has certainly implied it. Those in opposition of the incumbent have been using gruesome metaphors of coffins being painted on her door.

The combination of poor staffing, structural and budget decisions, inexcusably delayed decision times, bad judgment and the unfortunate factor of human error finally combusted on April 2 of last year, bringing these issues to light. It is easier and more comforting to point to a single source of blame, yet it is abundantly — although sadly — obvious the massive problems lie in the Dane County system, not just the executive.

The continued reluctance of 911 Center director Joe Norwick and the Madison Police Department to release details and answers regarding Zimmermann’s case makes it clear they know they have blood on their hands as well.

Yes, Falk may have messed up. Badly. She should have spotted the threadbare spots in the dispatch center and patched them before tragedy tore them loose. Yet rival Mistele’s strategy to single Falk out as the cause _– and point to herself as the solution — is just not right. I find it not only in bad taste, but irritatingly bad logic that Mistele has been exploiting the mishandled 911 call from Zimmermann’s cell phone to promote a campaign lacking a solid foundation in the first place.

If Dane County residents are looking for a change, I urge them to do the research on the issues and not be persuaded by her exploitation of Madison’s — and especially UW students’ — sensitivity to the dispatch center tragedy. Look into her public record, her thoughts on the school system and how she insists she will improve Dane Country. As McCain proved at the end of the last year, simply saying you’re not the “other guy” isn’t going to cut it.

Laura Brennan ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in communicative disorders.