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911 operator: 'I wish I recognized the urgency' at Powell house
msnbc.com ^ | 2/10/12 | King 5 news

Posted on 02/11/2012 3:10:44 PM PST by ColdOne

In an NBC Dateline interview, one of the 911 operators who took the call from the social worker outside Josh Powell's house, breaks his silence.

In an exclusive interview with NBC's Keith Morrison, David Lovrak, who's been taking heat for his questions when Elizabeth Griffin-Hall called him, says he, like so many others in this case, didn't recognize the kind of man they were dealing with.

"Especially for somebody who has done this for as long as I have, to relisten to the call and hear how clumsy and faltering I sounded," Lovrak said, "It was horrible. This has been a nightmare."

The Pierce County Sheriff's office says the first call came in at 12:08 on Sunday. Five minutes later, at 12:13, information

(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Washington
KEYWORDS: braden; charles; powell; susanpowell
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1 posted on 02/11/2012 3:10:50 PM PST by ColdOne
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To: ColdOne

I heard the operator talking about it. He just didn’t know....but 22 minutes to get someone there??? It doesn’t matter. The delay probably saved lives!!


2 posted on 02/11/2012 3:12:58 PM PST by Sacajaweau
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To: Sacajaweau

Whose lives?


3 posted on 02/11/2012 3:14:30 PM PST by livius
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To: livius
The responders...It sounds like he had killed the kids already. One sick guy....and no one suspected??

I'm sick of hearing "person of interest".

4 posted on 02/11/2012 3:17:21 PM PST by Sacajaweau
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To: ColdOne

Horrible situation. I feel for everyone. I mean that operator will have to live with that mistake forever. The Villain must still be focused on that stupid Dad who killed his two kids.


5 posted on 02/11/2012 3:18:24 PM PST by napscoordinator (A moral principled Christian with character is the frontrunner! Congrats Santorum!)
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To: livius

It probably saved the lives of the responders, the kids were dead or near dead within minutes of the door closing so a quicker response probably would not have saved them and would have risked responders in the explosion.

The real problem here is the complete stupidity of the social services twits who know the complete situation and yet turn over the kids to the suspect father at his own home with inadequate supervision to ensure their safety.


6 posted on 02/11/2012 3:19:56 PM PST by RJS1950 (The democrats are the "enemies foreign and domestic" cited in the federal oath)
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To: ColdOne

I don’t think there’s a chance that responders could have gotten there in time.

But according to another report posted here earlier, there were indications that this guy was a sex pervert lunatic, and there were long delays while they failed to resolve that question. They never should have allowed the kids to visit this guy until they HAD worked it out.

I think that’s where they screwed up.


7 posted on 02/11/2012 3:23:19 PM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: ColdOne

Transcript of social worker’s first call to 911 before the explosion (this is the male dispatcher in the article who regrets his handling of it):

http://www.thereporteronline.com/article/20120208/NEWS04/120209826/-1/LIFE/transcript-social-worker-s-911-call-from-josh-powell-s-home&pager=full_story


8 posted on 02/11/2012 3:24:26 PM PST by WXRGina (Further up and further in!)
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To: RJS1950
"The real problem here is the complete stupidity of the social services twits who know the complete situation and yet turn over the kids to the suspect father at his own home with inadequate supervision to ensure their safety."

Absolutely!

9 posted on 02/11/2012 3:24:48 PM PST by ~Vor~ (Freeper since 10/98)
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To: WXRGina

That social worker was in an impossible situation. Its easy to say that she simply should have never brought those boys to that nut’s house. You would like to think there were some options. Sadly she probably was following strict protocols.


10 posted on 02/11/2012 3:33:31 PM PST by allendale
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To: ColdOne

It doesn’t matter. Nothing would have been changed, except maybe more people would have been killed. The guy was evil. He planned his evil well.


11 posted on 02/11/2012 3:45:43 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (FOREIGN AID: A transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Sad and tragic all around.


12 posted on 02/11/2012 3:50:03 PM PST by Shimmer1 (No matter how cynical I get, I just can't keep up.)
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To: WXRGina

Thank you for that link. Wow he didn’t think it was a issue at all from that transcript.


13 posted on 02/11/2012 3:50:26 PM PST by ColdOne (I miss my poochie... Tasha 2000~3/14/11)
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To: Cicero

Actually, I think the grandfather (where the father lived) was the looney toon and was put in jail. The boys were then placed with the maternal grandparents.

The father was ordered to take several evaluations that may have triggered this event.

But sadly, the father had not been charged or accused with anything. Be it murder or perversion.

I don’t know what the laws in the state are..but evidently supervised visitation was the best they could do.

I really don’t understand why there was such a delay in the investigation of the murder or the possibility of perversion, but the laws are the laws and hindsight is always 20-20.

I try to look at this from another angle. Let’s say for the sake of argument, this was s good guy (he wasn’t of course) and denied visitation with his children when no charges had been made. Most people would be screaming about how heavy handed CPS is. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation.


14 posted on 02/11/2012 3:52:47 PM PST by berdie
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To: RJS1950

“... the real problem here is the complete stupidity of the social services twits...”

I’m not arguing with your assessment; however, didn’t a judge approve the visitation of the father with the children? I saw an interview on television of the social worker and it seems like she was following the court’s orders. It also sounded like Powell planned this in advance. So sad for those two precious little boys.


15 posted on 02/11/2012 3:53:06 PM PST by momtothree
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To: ColdOne

He didn’t sound like a good listener, either.


16 posted on 02/11/2012 3:53:05 PM PST by WXRGina (Further up and further in!)
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To: allendale
The social worker was a contractor, and from her handling of the event it make you wonder how much she knew of the case.

It sounds like the sister had made a previous 911 call regarding her brother's mental state that should have resulted in a welfare check. That would have gone in a record at the 911 center. Then if the social worker been able to give the address of the house, more data would have been available to the 911 operator.

It is great to call for a faster response to this event, but you need to know a location in order to respond.

17 posted on 02/11/2012 3:53:16 PM PST by USNBandit (sarcasm engaged at all times)
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To: RJS1950

Visitation should have taken place outside of his home, at a Government office. Never should of allowed visitation at his home; the social worker was blocked from getting inside the house to “supervise” the visitation. Maybe this types of visits should always have a deputy or policeman/woman go with the social worker.


18 posted on 02/11/2012 3:57:47 PM PST by Engedi (A)
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To: WXRGina
SOCIAL WORKER: Powell. P-O-W-E-L-L.
911 OPERATOR: Two L's? Two L's at the end of Powell?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

This transcript reads like the script to a comedy movie.....( except that is was real and the outcome so horrific.)

Geeze! Who cares whether the dad was white, black or Asian? Get someone over there.

19 posted on 02/11/2012 4:03:46 PM PST by wintertime (Reforming a government K-12 school is like reforming an abortion centers.)
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To: RJS1950
The real problem here is the complete stupidity of the social services twits who know the complete situation and yet turn over the kids to the suspect father at his own home with inadequate supervision to ensure their safety.

And didn't even know the address when the 911 call began.

That's what a college degree in Liberal Arts will gain you.

20 posted on 02/11/2012 4:07:42 PM PST by lightman (Adjutorium nostrum (+) in nomine Domini--nevertheless, Vote Santorum!)
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