On December 15, 2014 the Consolidated Dispatch Agency Director Tim Lee, fired three veteran dispatchers for not following proper protocol on premise hazards.
Tallahassee Reports has reviewed a memo written by CDA Director Tim Lee, and sent to the CDA Board, that alerts the board to internal problems with premise hazard information and the management structure at the CDA during the Caracus Court incident.
The memo is dated November 26, 2014, approximately 23 days before the three dispatchers were fired.
At the time the memo was written, the CDA Board consisted of Sheriff Larry Campbell, City Manager Anita Favors, and County Administrator Vince Long.
The memo highlighted at least three factors that more than likely contributed to the dispatching problems associated with the Caracus Court incident.
First, Mr Lee wrote that he “determined that the (premise hazard) database is overloaded (with) excessive and outdated data.”
This is consistent with what sources have told Tallahassee Reports. One dispatcher said that officer safety data was entered into the same data field as non-safety related information like gate codes and the location of extra keys.
This also explains why the City Audit of the CDA found only 2% of the premise hazards were reviewed by dispatchers. Due to the “excessive and outdated data”, most premise hazard alerts were ignored.
Second, Mr, Lee wrote “We are identif(ing) the information that could be relocated to other resources so that the premise hazard notifications be more focused on officer safety.”
This clearly implies that at the time of the Caracus Court incident the premise hazards were not focused on officer safety. Furthermore, this statement indicates that the software was not configured in a way to alert dispatchers about officer safety hazards.
And third, Mr. Lee wrote “As the Director of the CDA, my focus is to be a manager, an innovator, an educator and a leader. In the current CDA environment it is prohibitive for me as a director to be as effective as I need to be because of the current organizational structure.”
This statement clearly indicates that problems at the CDA emanated from the lack of management.
Given these facts were known to Director Lee and the CDA Board, why were the three veteran dispatchers terminated?
CDA Director and Board Knew of System Problems Before Terminating Dispatchers added by Staff on
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I hate to harp on this, but it reflects badly on the educational qualifications of incumbent city leaders:
Premise: a statement or idea that is accepted as being true and that is used as the basis of an argument
Premises : a building and the area of land that it is on
I think we can see what the real premise hazard is here. Unfortunately for us, City Hall can’t.
I hope TR will continue to push on this issue to determine if the terminations were proper or not. I would like to know if Mr Lee made the decision to fire these employees or if the Board or one of its members directed him to do so.
Very well written and informative reporting!
Where is the kid Andy on this? He needs to speak up!