Posted on Thursday, 1st May 2008 by Bruce
Confirming a rumor that’s been floating around Madison for weeks, Madison’s weekly Isthmus is reporting this morning that the victim of Madison’s most recent homicide called 911 before she was stabbed and beaten to death, but the 911 dispatcher concluded that the call was a mistake.
Furthermore, the 911 call center and Madison Police Department are now involved in a wicked “he said, she said” over who shares the blame:
“Four weeks after Zimmermann was murdered, her killer or killers remain at large, and little is known about the investigation. But Isthmus has been able to confirm several new details.
The most significant is that the 911 Center received a call from Zimmermann before she was killed, did not dispatch police, and then did not immediately or accurately inform the Police Department about the call after cops found her body, law enforcement officials tell Isthmus.
Sources suggest the center may have made a call-back to a wrong number, where the person who answered assured that no crisis was occurring. One source says cops might have been better situated to make a quick arrest had mistakes not been made by the 911 Center.
Over the past two and a half weeks, the 911 Center has refused requests for basic information about the calls. This week, Joe Norwick, director of the Dane County 911 Center since July, declined further opportunities to comment after being provided with a written summary of parts of this story.
In an email, Norwick said he was basing his refusal on a request from the Madison Police Department to withhold all information “pertaining to this matter” because release would “seriously impair” the murder investigation.
Madison police officials vigorously dispute this. While declining to call the 911 Center’s action a cover-up, they suggested that Norwick is improperly using the department as an excuse not to own up to his agency’s mistakes.”
So, let’s review here: As Madison police admit that they are “baffled” by the 5 unsolved murders the city has witnessed in the past year, citizens can’t get police to return their phone calls, can’t get detectives to look at digital photos of bar patrons that almost identically match suspect sketches in open homicide cases, and now apparently can’t get help when they dial 911. Other than that, it sounds like Madison’s emergency response system is a well-oiled machine. Remember, you’re still “relatively safe” here, says the political establishment.
Wow. As a Dane County resident, it scares me to observe how often stuff like this happens.
The journalistic slam-dunk of the day has to go to WTMJ-AM‘s Erik Bilstad with the following paragraph:
“Newsradio 620 WTMJ and it’s partner radio station in Madison have placed numerous calls to the Dane County 911 Center, Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk and many other leaders in the Madison [area].
So far no calls have been returned.”
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42 Responses to “Victim of Madison’s most recent homicide called 911, but no one came”
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May 1st, 2008 at 10:12 am
It wouldn’t surprise me if it was frequently.
Way to go city of Madison police and emergency services. You likely cost this young woman her life!
May 1st, 2008 at 10:15 am
[...] H/T to Badger Blogger. [...]
May 1st, 2008 at 10:27 am
The murderer cost her her life. Madison 911 might have been able to prevent her murder but you can’t say they cost her her life.
I hope they catch the guy. I suspect he will have had prior arrests..
May 1st, 2008 at 10:32 am
Typical, a Madison law enforcement agency makes an ignoble mistake and tries to slide it under the rug.
The next question I have is what did Ms. Zimmerman tell the 911 operator? Was she arguing with someone when she called? Why not release a transcript of the 911 call and let the public decide?
Lots of back side oovering going on in Madison right now. While the Madison PD and the 911 center point fingers at each other, Zimmerman’s killer, and the killers of the others, are out and about and may do it again.
It is a FUBAR situation.
May 1st, 2008 at 10:53 am
I go to Madison frequently and do go downtown. I must say that in the back of my mind I am fearful. My heart breaks for the family/friends of this young woman as more and more information leaks out. This is what our liberal capitol has given us. FEAR AND MORE FEAR!!!!
May 1st, 2008 at 10:54 am
The call-back may have been to a wrong number???
Or maybe she was dead on the floor and the killer answered it: ‘there’s no problem here…now’.
That dispatcher is definitely not getting any free tickets to Badger games next season!!
May 1st, 2008 at 11:06 am
What did Noble Wray and the 911 Center know and when did they know it? Heads should roll! If Madison can’t receive and dispatch a 911 hang up, are they qualified to do the job? Is this precisely why people pay taxes?
I’m left wondering what the family of the young murder victim are thinking? Besides the 911 center’s inept handling of the call, this investigation was botched from the beginning. Charlie Sykes recommeded that the Madison police call the Milwaukee police for help!
May 1st, 2008 at 11:08 am
What?! She called 911 and they blew it. What is happening in Madison seems like a complete break down of the Madison PD.
It’s time to clean house top to bottom.
May 1st, 2008 at 11:24 am
What a bad time to be in law enforcement in Madison.
First they drop the ball on the Brittnay Zimmerman murder and now a revelaton a Dane County deputy who accidentally locked himself in jail tried shooting his way out.
http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=22483
Has Madison turned into Mayberry RFD where Chief Gober Wray and Deputy Barney are in charge? It couldn’t have happened in Mayberry. Barney only had a six shooter, and couldn’t have fired twenty rounds into bullet proof glass!
May 1st, 2008 at 12:49 pm
More, and more we hear of these types of “mistakes” occuring with NO consequences for those making the mistakes. Why is it we keep hearing how we MUST pay exorbitant wages in order to get “the best” people available, when in actuality those hired
are mediocre on their best days? This is rampant within our society lately. WHY IS NOTHING BEING DONE ABOUT IT?
May 1st, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Having worked a better part of three decades in law enforcement I can’t recall any police department dropping the ball as bad as Madison has done in this case. What do you think this victim’s family is thinking? If the emergency call center had done their job their daughter may still be alive.
It also appears the investigation itself was botched. Seeing pictures of uniformed coppers looking through bushes two days AFTER the crime scene was processed points towards inexperience. This should have been done when at the time her body was discovered.
The only positive thing is a news organization actually working to get the truth out.
May 1st, 2008 at 1:31 pm
The victims family will probably be suing the pants off the city of madison (is that even possible?).
Big T:
The murderer cost Zimmermann her life, yes, and the police may have been able to prevent that, ergo, the responsibility for her death, or at least failure to apprehend anyone in this case, is fully on their heads.
May 1st, 2008 at 1:36 pm
BH: I know what the victim’s family is thinking.
Probably the same thing that a previous victim’s family has vocalized to the media.
May 1st, 2008 at 3:04 pm
From the radio news reports that I’ve heard today, it sounds as though all Dane County law enforcement agencies utilize a single 911 center. Is this true? My other questions are:
Is the 911 center its own entity, government or otherwise or is it managed by a police or sheriff’s agency?
Did the 911 center have location information along with the call? If they did not, why not? I believe the term “enhanced 911″ is the system where a GPS position is recorded. I don’t know if this 911 center has it.
Did the operator follow policy by not sending a squad?
If the operator did not follow policy, what discipline will the operator face?
If it is policy to not send a squad, why are cellular calls treated differently than landline calls?
I know that it is policy to call the phone back in the event of a “hang-up” call. One report I heard said the operator claimed to have been “too busy” to make the call-back. Is this true? It sounds like the operator may have neglected their duties on this particular point.
Finally, I agree with BigT that the murderer is the only one responsible for her death. I can’t definitively say whether or not the 911 operator bears a substantial burden here until I have the answers to the above questions. Until those details are known, people are jumping to conclusions in my opinion.
May 1st, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Interesting story. Either the 911 center or the police chief isn’t being truthful.
Quote from Wisc. State Journal:
“Norwick [the head of the 911 center] said his agency has notified Madison police several times that it is willing and able to dispatch police when these cell calls come in, but Madison police have asked that 911 not dispatch them.
“Under current police, Norwick said, if dispatchers answer a 911 call and can’t determine if it’s an emergency, the dispatcher calls the number back. At the request of police, officers are only dispatched if the call comes from a landline phone, he said.
“Dispatch equipment tells operators the addresses of calls from landline phones, but with cell phones they might be able to determine that the call came from a certain block, or a stretch of road a mile long, Norwick said.
“Madison Police Chief Noble Wray said cell phone technology is more precise than that, and that his department has not asked the dispatch center not to tell them about cell phone hang-up calls.
“Zimmermann’s death is the fifth unsolved Madison homicide in the past 10 months. Two have occurred Downtown, inside homes, during the day, apparently by strangers.
“Four weeks after Zimmermann was killed, police have repeatedly said they had no suspects.”
http://www.madison.com/wsj/topstories/284206
May 1st, 2008 at 3:33 pm
911 call centers are ran by dane county, not the city of madison. Say what you want about MPD, but this issue is entirely the call center’s fault. Chief Wray said the MPD was not made aware of the call, and that had they been aware, an officer would have responded.
May 1st, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Thanks for the info, Seth. The sickening old cover-your-ass-by-fingerpointing-game appears to be in full swing.
With Wray and Norwick blaming each other, it is only a matter of time before some evidence of what the actual policy, SOP or agreement between agencies actually states is released. Unfortunately, someone isn’t being completely honest right now.
GPS readings are not an exact science. Sometimes they are extremely accurate, sometimes they are not. It varies depending on how many different satellites the phone itself can get. At a minimum, it needs three signals to triangulate an accurate location. It then transmits that information to the network. If the phone isn’t getting good satellite signals or it’s receiving less than three satellites, the position fix will likely be very inaccurate.
It will be interesting to see if they had GPS information at the time of the call and just how accurate it was if they did have it.
It is scary to know that Madisonites either have a mass killer or several murderers in their midst who operate like the one in the Zimmermann case. I make fun of Madison’s politics, but I hope the PD gets its $#it together, and soon…I don’t wish this kind of horror on anyone.
May 1st, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Thanks for your info too, IV. Didn’t see it until after my post went up.
May 1st, 2008 at 3:54 pm
For those of you who are interested, here’s the Madison PD Press Release from earlier today.
The Madison Police Department’s own investigation has concluded that this call to 911 was “not accidental… not internationally erroneous, and not a hang-up call.”
Chief Wray is bold in his calls for an internal investigation to determine what went wrong in the handling of this 911 call. The taxpayers of Dane County deserve an explanation, and for someone to be held accountable.
May 1st, 2008 at 4:48 pm
I’ll still have to disagree. As someone that lives in Madison (dane county) and pays actual property taxes, this is totally unacceptable on any level. A dropped 911 call should have a squad sent out no matter what. If that’s not policy (and it probably isn’t, knowing the number of police available in this city) then someone higher up than the 911 operator’s head needs to roll. If it *IS* policy, and MPD didn’t know about the call, then the 911 operator is at fault, and should, at the least be fired, and then sued out of existence by the victim’s family (I’m thinking some form of negligence here).
The emergency services, no matter how you cut it, bear part of the blame. I don’t freaking care if it’s the police, or the 911 center.
I’m *sick* of paying ridiculous property taxes for *this* kind of garbage. In winter they couldn’t keep the streets clear. Now they can’t fix potholes. On top of that you get two unsolved murders in the space of a few months, one of which the victim ACTUALLY CALLED FOR HELP AND DIDN’T GET ANY.
Give me a break already.
May 1st, 2008 at 6:55 pm
I retired after over 25 years as a big city detective and it was common practice to check the homicide victim’s telephone ASAP, to determine ‘calls received’ and ‘calls made’from that phone. This was not done during the Zimmermann murder investigation. WHY NOT???? Checking the phone would’ve at least have learned that her phone was used to make a 911 call. Are there ANY REAL DETECTIVES IN MADISON??!!! I think Wray should be fired and the ex-Milwaukee detective he fired be returned to duty and be assigned to investigtate the Zimmermann homicide. I know that detective and the tenacity he exhibited in all the investigations he initiated and was assigned to investigate. It appears the Madison media has taken over and is taking the lead in this homicide, and finally have crawled out of Wray’s pockets to do so. After so many misdeeds of Wray in the past, you would think the media would’ve reacted to/become suspicious of all the documented facts and strong rumors they were fed prior to and after Wray was given the Chief’s job!!
May 1st, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Mark Belling had a blurb on the Madison police this afternoon. It begins about 1/3 into the podcast.
http://a1135.g.akamai.net/f/1135/18227/1h/cchannel.download.akamai.com/18227/podcast/MILWAUKEE-WI/BLNG-IP/Belling6_05-01-08.mp3?CPROG=PCAST&MARKET=MILWAUKEE-WI&NG_FORMAT=personality&SITE_ID=3627&STATION_ID=BLNG-IP&PCAST_AUTHOR=Mark_Belling&PCAST_CAT=Talk_Radio&PCAST_TITLE=Mark_Belling_Show_Podcast
May 1st, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Un-Freaking-Believable! After finally getting a chance to catch up, I feel just stunned that this farce has taken so long to come to light. Maybe they need to hire the reporters at the Isthmus to investigate this murder, since the Madison PD’s detectives seem to be clueless buffoons. Is it any wonder that morale is so low among the officers? They work for morons!
May 1st, 2008 at 8:22 pm
MilwHowie…great point! Police Chief Noble Wray claims the Madison Police Dept. didn’t know about the 911 call from Ms. Zimmerman until weeks after she died. Why didn’t the investigating detectives check the victim’s cell phone for outgoing calls? If they had, the 911 call would have been there for investigators to see. This would have given detectives the precise time of the incident and clear window to investigate. With weeks going by you can bet some video from private cameras was probably erased that may have been useful.
May 1st, 2008 at 8:35 pm
The Zimmermann 911 cover-up (and that’s what it would have been, another cover-up swept under the rug by the Madison powerful, I’ve seen many in my 10 years here) is now front page news on Milwaukee’s Journal/Sentinel.
Say what we will about the MSM, when daylight shines upon things, those things often change. I am so glad. This is what these Madison elitists and their “stick your head in the sand and hope it goes away” constituents (most of whom work for government in some form themselves) have feared for ages. Somebody outside of Madison is now assigned to watch them.
Sweet.
May 1st, 2008 at 9:20 pm
“That same day, police investigators discovered that a call from Zimmermann’s phone was made to the 911 center earlier in the day.”
From Madison.com Sounds like the cops did know the day of the murder. What time, I don’t know.
May 1st, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Tis a shame that Milwaukee’s Mark Belling had to weigh in with the cadre of media types in Madison who crawled out of Wray’s pockets to take over the administration of the Madison Police Department. It’s plain and simple that Milwaukee’s police department solves their homicides and Madison PD doesn’t! Belling is aware of Milwaukee’s high clearance rate. Chief Wray, while somewhat still in charge, and unloosening his badge of office, should swallow his pride and seriously consider sending his current and future detectives to the Milwaukee PD Detective Training seminars before dispatching them to Madison’s increasing number of homicide and serious crime scenes. Many years ago many large city police departments sent their investigators to the Milwaukee Police Dept. as ride-alongs, to learn how and why the Milw. PD had such success in solving major crimes. Wray should absolutely do the very same. Madison, with a population of 200,000+ is a big city with increasing crime concerns and a big-city-type chief should take charge….QUICKLY!!!
May 1st, 2008 at 9:47 pm
“milhowie”, just respectfully letting you know what you probably already suspect:
No one in Madison would ever ask for any help from anyone in Milwaukee, to solve any problem, no matter how dire the circumstances. On this matter, or any other.
These two cities are separated by 63 total miles, but they might as well be on different continents. Most people in Madison would not look to those in Milwaukee for guidance on any topic.
I’m not saying this is right, but “it is what it is”, as they say. Madisonians think we Milwaukeeans are just a bunch of beer-drinking, polyester short-sleeve-shirt-wearing ignoramuses.
Yet, the unsolved homicides in Madison pile up. Gonna have to reach out to somebody, I’d guess…Sooner or later.
May 1st, 2008 at 11:13 pm
And we think they are a bunch of latte sipping pencil necks. Of course they are not going to reach out. Milwaukee has to have a high clearance rate, or their would be anarchy in the streets. If Milwaukee PD let half their murders go unsolved, heads would be rolling because crime is commonplace. Madison seems to be in over their heads, but that is because major crime has recently hit this college town. However, the difference is very clear in regards to crime in parts of the city. 3 murders on campus? NO outrage at the Chief or Mayor from West Side citizens who demanded 30 new officers. They have the influence. When they call for a town hall meeting things get done. Alas, we students don’t get the same attention for murders, that they get for graffiti.
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:02 am
TIV–
Wow, I was going to comment that you were starting to make sense! …then you lost me.
The people on the West Side know what is coming and want it stopped before it’s too late.
For the student population (who can pick up and leave in 4 years), crime is not even close to their top priority. They aren’t raising a family. They aren’t tied to a home. Until now, they probably only worried about getting their laptops stolen at the library or date-raped at a party.
May 2nd, 2008 at 7:12 am
Crime in Madison is a city-wide problem, and it’s out of control.
Don’t be fooled into thinking this is a downtown, southwest side, or campus problem.
Have a walk through the Madison PD’s press center. Take a glimpse at the daily “incident reports“.
Money Magazine is re-thinking its 1996 feature. The 2008 version hails Madison as “Best place to be the victim of a strong armed robbery in America.”
May 2nd, 2008 at 7:31 am
TIV:
There’s plenty of outrage, you’re just not going to hear about it in the latte sipping press.
My neighbors and I are pretty fed up with this situation.
May 2nd, 2008 at 7:33 am
oh, I forgot. We’re fed up with the situation, but like you said, the problems aren’t just downtown, and since we actually are, you know, tied to our homes (especially with the housing market the way it is just now), we’re concentrating on our area of the city.
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:48 am
Madison crime will one day be just like Milwaukee crime. Atleast Milwaukee Officers earn their pay by all the hard work it does to keep the City as safe as possible and I don’t mean writing traffic tickets.
May 2nd, 2008 at 10:07 am
I guess the Madison PD needs to change its’ “Policing in partnership with our community” phrase if it doesn’t want the communities help with the crime problem. The Chief’s message says what the department doesn’t do: “committed to the philosophy of community-oriented policing.”–”We are committed to adopting a problem-solving model of policing in which we address the root causes of problems rather than implementing only a quick fix”–”Members of the Department are encouraged to try new and otherwise non-traditional policing methods in working with the community and other government agencies.”
Look at it for yourself: http://www.ci.madison.wi.us/police/
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Ron/Gman- So, let me get this right. Just because some of us are here for 4 years, our concerns are less valid? We don’t deserve the right to work around safely, study with no fear in are hearts? Are you serious? Being date raped at a party is one the most serious issues on campuses across America, that’s why they have a seminar on it at orientation! Rapes and assaults are very much on people’s minds, and so is robbery. If people are afraid to send their kids to this world class University, Madison is going to have a lot more problems than bad call centers. Like my alder told me about crime, “It is great that people on the west side care about the issue of crime. We have been waiting for them to find out what all the downtown alders have known for awhile.” The downtown districts have most of the city’s crime, and yet it was not until fights started breaking out at Memorial, that the city’s awareness was raised. At the now infamous town halls on the West side with Mayor Dave and the Chief, they called for more cops, but I doubt we on campus, or anyone on the East side was on their mind when they did.
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:18 pm
TIV-
Here’s a life-lesson that you might be missing out on at UW. You get exactly what you are willing to tolerate.
I’m not saying your concerns are less valid, I’m saying you have less valid concerns. In 15 years, post back on this blog and tell me I’m wrong.
If you want anything to change, you need an organized base of power…ask your Yoga-101 professor how they did it back in the day.
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Nobel Wray is doing what is best for Noble Wray. Unless you are part of the elite upper crust of the Madison PD nothing will be changed…not unless there is a major out cry from the public.
I heard Jay Weber on WISN say that Wray is irritated that Jay keeps harping about the Madison PD. I say, it’s about time someone holds Wray’s feet to the fire! Madison’s clearance rate is at 50% and Milwaukee consistatly has a clearance rate of 80%-85% (according to Jay’s numbers). Something has to change.
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Wray can gripe about the 911 center all he wants. His detectives have solved virtually none of the high profile cases in Madison in the last year. I believe he is using this 911 call center fiasco to distract attention from ALL these open cases.
Wray claims the 911 center didn’t follow Madison PD policy, which Wray claims requires a cop to be sent to cell phone hang-ups if something in the call presents itself. We don’t know what was in the call. The time of the call could be something that presented itself as evidence. The only problem is the 911 center didn’t know a crime was committed until after the police found Zimmerman’s body.
I say release the 911 call Zimmerman made and let the public decide. Wray’s policy should be that cops AUTOMATICALLY get sent to 911 hang ups from cell phones. His policy allows him to put the onus on the call center.
May 2nd, 2008 at 7:23 pm
Ron: With regard to your comment in post # 37 above — TIV is not a student at UW-Madison, they are a student at MATC (Madison Area Technical College) — he/she proudly pointed that out in their early comments here at BadgerBlogger.
And, for the record, at MATC, they call it “Massage Therapy 101″. Give credit where credit is due, please.
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:23 pm
A Madison murder victim’s family speaks out and hits the nail on the head. They are calling for the AG’s office to take charge of the investigation of their son’s death.
http://www.madison.com/wsj/mad/breaking_news/284457
The family claims image and political correctness are at play. These people are very frustrated. Noble Wray dwells on blaming the 911 emergency center. Regardless, five open high profile murders!
The AG is a fnger in the air politician. My guess is he would rather play ball with the Madison police than make political enemies. Where will they go next?
April 27th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
only in wisconsin