EMTC 101 - Powell 911 Case Study

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Jun 11, 2024

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911 Call Case Study Josh Powell EMTC 101 – Call Management 1 Beth Wallace 1

Table of Contents  Summary of 911 Call p3-9  Location and People Involved p3  Call Summary p4-7  Additional Information p8  What Went Wrong p9-11  Results of Dispatcher Failure p12-16  Dispatcher Consequences p13-15  Powell Homep16  What Should Have Resulted p17  Future Preventions p18-19  Credibility p20  Takeaways p21-22  References p23 2

Summary of 911 Call Location and People Involved  Date: February 5th, 2012  Location: Graham, Washington, a few miles south of Seattle  Perpetrator: Josh Powell  Victims: Charles (7) and Braden (5)  Caller: Elizabeth Griffin-Hall Social worker from Foster Care Resources Network  Dispatcher: David Lovrak 3

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Summary of 911 Call Call Summary  Powell was to have a supervised visit of his two sons with the social worker Elizabeth Griffin-Hall at his home  The children ran from the social workers car into Powell’s home – Powell locked the door behind them  Griffin-Hall smelled gasoline upon approaching the door  After realizing she had been locked out of the home she rang the doorbell, knocked on the door and windows, and begged to be let in 4

Summary of 911 Call Call Summary (Cont’d)  After no answer Griffin-Hall called 911 from her car  Dispatcher spent several minutes trying to understand Griffin-Hall’s relationship to Josh Powell and the children  Assumed Griffin-Hall was the mother of the children  Griffin-Hall provides a description of Powell, and also, informed the dispatcher that Powell is part of a high profile case involving his missing wife Susan Powell  Dispatcher did not acknowledge this additional information 5

Summary of 911 Call Call Summary (Cont’d)  Griffin-Hall also informed the dispatcher that she smelled smoke  Dispatcher dismissed this assuming it was idling fumes from her car  Dispatcher told Griffin-Hall she did not know when help would be arriving because:  “Responders must deal with life-threatening situations first”  “The first available duty will respond first” 6

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Summary of 911 Call Call Summary (Cont’d)  Griffin-Hall stated that this was a life- threatening situation, and that she feared for the lives of the children  Dispatcher asked Griffin-Hall if Powell had done something like this before, but she was unsure  Dispatcher restated that the first available deputy contact her  Police arrived at the burning home 22 minutes after social worker's call  The gas-fueled blast killed Powell and his sons 7

911 Call Summary Additional Information  Dec. 16/09 Powell was the sole person of interest in the case of his missing wife Susan Powell  Susan’s parents accused Josh of abusing Susan  Feb. 1/12:A judge ruled that Charles and Braden had to remain in the custody of Susan’s parents, not Josh, until he underwent a psychosexual evaluation  Susan’s parents claimed the children did not want to visit their father (the day of the tragedy), but were forced due to a court order 8

911 Call Summary What Went Wrong  What went wrong in this 9-1-1 call was the result of multiple dispatcher failures:  There was a lack of attitude awareness  Dispatcher was almost contentious when Griffin-Hall was stating her authority – instead of gathering as much information as he could ▪ Told Griffin-Hall she could not supervise herself [if she was the mother of the children]  Was only focused on the necessary details  Location, description of suspect, is anyone hurt now 9

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911 Call Summary What Went Wrong (Cont’d)  Failed to make important inquires  Griffin-Hall informed him that Powell was involved in a high profile missing persons case involving his wife Susan Powell – this is a red flag  Powell’s behaviour and history  Why he was in court or needed supervised visits  Why Griffin-Hall believed Powell would harm his children – even though she was unsure of whether he had done something like this in the past 10

911 Call Summary What Went Wrong (Cont’d)  In regards to this being a “life-threatening” situation dispatcher:  Did not take Griffin-Hall’s call seriously by telling her the situation was not life-threatening  Could not grasp the situation: Griffin-Hall’s relationship to the family ▪ Griffin-Hall replied “this could be a life-threatening situation” “I'm afraid for their lives”  The biggest mistakes made by David Lovrak was that he made assumptions that cost two innocent children their lives  That the smell of gas was from Griffin-Hall’s car, and that this was no a life-threatening situation 11

Results of Dispatcher Failure  Took 22 minutes before police arrived at the scene  8 minutes for David Lovrak to send a police car  Additional 13 minutes for a police car to arrive  An autopsy revealed Powell attacked his sons with a hatchet before setting the home fire – though they died due to smoke inhalation and gasoline explosion 12

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Results of Dispatcher Failure Dispatcher Consequences  Lovrak’s punishment was corrective rather than punitive  He violated four Law Enforcement Support Agency policies in his handling of the call (see next slide)  Received a written reprehend from supervisor 13

Results of Dispatcher Failure Dispatcher Consequences (Cont’d) 14

Results of Dispatcher Failure Dispatcher Consequences (Cont’d)  "The public trust has been shaken and therefore ... Formal discipline is necessary and appropriate," Diana Lock, Assistant Director at the Pierce County Law Enforcement Support Agency  The letter will be added to Lovrak's personnel file  The punishment dispatcher received was fair  Lovrak sees his errors, apologized for them and according to his reprehend has identified how he will correct those errors  He has faced much public scrutiny  Looking into Lovraks background he has abundantly more compliments and letters of thank you than reprehends  There were no new law, or policies changed after this event – it was simply bad judgment on the part of the dispatcher 15

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Results of Dispatcher Failure Powell Home 16

What Should Have Resulted  Emergency responders should have been sent immediately  It is was not the dispatchers place to assume that Powell was not a danger  Griffin-Hall mentioned the smell of gas and that the situation could potentially become life-threatening  Dispatcher should have asked more questions:  Is Powell dangerous?  Does he have a record?  How is Powell involved in a police investigation?  Do you smell gas coming from your car or the house?  Dispatcher should have asked Griffin-Hall to call back if the situation escaladed 17

Future Preventions  Never make assumptions about anything a caller says – take their word for it  Dispatcher should be retrained on proper phone etiquette  Callers should be believed and taken seriously when they fear a situation will escalate  Josh Powell’s home should have been marked “premise hazard” due to being a suspect in his missing wife's’ case  Identifying need for a heightened response 18

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Future Preventions (Cont’d)  When you have a compliant, well spoken, and (relatively) calm caller ask them as many question as possible  Dispatcher will have a better understanding of the situation ▪ That new information can be passed onto responders, and/or alter call prioritization 19

Credibility  Overall, when a case like this happens the community questions the capabilities of those hired to help them and protect them  Media waited to see if/how Lovrak would be punished while he faced much public scrutiny  Media dug into Lovroak’s past and found he had 8 reprehends – did not focus on his 30 letters of thank you  The public would deem no disciplinary action taken by the agency as condoning the incident, or implying nothing was done wrong by the dispatcher 20

Takeaways  Treat every call as an emergency  Get as much information as you can from the caller  Ask caller questions in different words if there is any miscommunication  Be attentive and do not make assumptions 21

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Takeaways (Cont’d)  If the caller pleads that the situation is life threatening, believe them – better to be safe than sorry  With every call remember attitude awareness – make sure every caller knows your are treating their call with the utmost importance  People who call for public safety services want to be taken seriously 22

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References  http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-north west-news/index.ssf/2012/02/dispatcher _fumbled_911_call_in.html (transcript)  http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/19/justice/ washington-powell-case/  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/ 08/911-call-from-josh-powell-home_n_12 63359.html 23

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