Journalist and humorist Jay Rath is a longtime contributor to all Madison newspapers. He's a former Onion staffer, and has written comedy for MTV and National Public Radio. The Rath of Madison originally appeared in the short-lived coreweekly alternative newspaper. It excited praise from editors at competing papers, including Isthmus' Marc Eisen, who called it "the hottest column in town." It also cost coreweekly two angry advertisers and one distribution outlet. Rath afflicts the comfortable and comforts the afflicted from his vantage point within sight of the capitol, if you go up to the third floor and sort of lean over to the left.
911 head must resign; secrecy threatens safety
jayrath | 5/02/2008 1:16 pm | The Rath of Madison
On April 2, while she was being murdered, UW student Brittany Sue Zimmerman phoned 911. We learned about this only yesterday.
Police Chief Noble Wray -- almost a month later -- admits that there was "evidence contained in the call, which should have resulted in a Madison police officer being dispatched."
The press so far is largely dancing around the issue, calling it "a high stakes back-and-forth between Madison Police and the Dane County 911 Center."
Well, screw that. Pardon me, but their in-house "high stakes" game can go to hell. What about us? What about the public?
What officials mean is, 911 heard something that sounded like Zimmerman was being attacked. And because she could not speak, 911 hung up.
Hung up!
And did not call back. Wray says that, even though it was a cellular call, because of technology upgrades made in 2006 police could have responded to her exact, roving position. And they knew her name and phone number.
And did not call back.Wray says that, even though it was a cellular call, because of technology upgrades police could have responded to her exact, roving position. And they knew her name and phone number. An "internal investigation" has been underway ever since. No one has been fired, put on leave, suspended or reprimanded. A whoooooole month later.
Hey, how about this for a 911? How about a "willful death" lawsuit against the city? If this is a pattern, how about a class-action lawsuit? How about such incredible public distrust of 911 and local law enforcement that the mayor should start firing people immediately?
The Madison Police Department prostituted itself when UW co-ed Audrey Seiler staged her own mock disappearance in 2004. Officers then could not fawn and preen enough before the national press. They learned their embarrassed lesson well. Now we get details only piecemeal, so that the public cannot gauge misdeeds.
The head of 911, Joe Norwick, should be fired. Wray might think about resigning. The unnamed 911 dispatcher should be suspended, then fired, and then brought up on charges of criminal negligence, and then should be sued in civil court for wrongful death.
We, the Madison public, have all been very patient. But even the cause of death of UW-System co-ed Kelly Nolan, similarly slain here June 23, has not yet been released.
A brave newspaper once reported, "the authorities are extremely reticent and guarded in all information they tender, and most of the information has to be obtained from other sources." It was generally agreed then that police secrecy was one reason the murderer was never caught. Even coroners' reports were kept secret -- exactly as today.
That newspaper was the London Advertiser, in 1888. The killer: Jack the Ripper.
All London papers then agreed in decrying police secrecy -- if for no other reason, because of silence the public could not gauge the effectiveness of its police force.
It is beyond time for the most basic Madison public records -- records which we the public own -- to be shared. Were these stranger crimes? Were they sex crimes? Investigations must not be threatened by premature disclosure, but how can the 911 screw-up hurt eventual prosecution?
There is only one reason to keep it secret: to protect official incompetence.
Surely causes of death can at least be offered. How can a death certificate be secret? Surely we must not wait a month for 911 misdeeds to be shared.
The newest fear on the isthmus is not of a murderer still at large, but that when we call for help our pleas will be ignored.
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