All of these police and 911 dispatchers need to be fired for joking about a fire in a nightclub the other day. I wonder how many times a day these kind of sentiments are expressed by cops across the nation. We only know about these clowns because they were bold enough to send all of these electronic messages…
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Five police officers and four dispatchers were suspended for sending computer messages after a nightclub caught fire joking about the blaze and quoting a line from the song Disco Inferno— “burn baby burn.”
Witnesses at the Midtown Live club saw the “burn baby burn” message on the computer screen inside an officer’s patrol car during the Feb. 18 fire. Police Chief Stan Knee said a commander and corporal who responded to the scene worked to calm angry witnesses.
The club has a mostly black clientele, and there were suggestions after the fire that the messages revealed racial bias in the department.
Documents released Friday indicate that after hearing a transmission about the fire, officer John Lengefeld sent a message from his patrol car to fellow officer Josue Martinez that said “burn baby burn.”
Martinez replied that he was laughing, and “Those were my exact thoughts.” Other officers chimed in with more than two hours of messages.
Among those receiving 15-day unpaid suspensions was officer William White, who sent a note that said, “U can smell from (Interstate) 35. It is the smell of victory.”
Dispatcher Susan Negron wrote, “I have some extra gasoline if they need it,” according to the documents, and “My nite is made. I just had a lady ask me if it was burning. I said yep. She was upset. I was enthralled.”
Dispatcher Ashlye Bauerle wrote, “You hear that Midtown is on fire!! The roof of a club. .. That’s funny! Gives a whole new meaning to the roof, the roof is on fire,” the documents said.
Knee called the messages “inappropriate.” All the suspended dispatchers and officers said they regretted their actions and that their messages were intended as jokes. A sixth officer received a written reprimand.
The messages also indicated that the officers were tired of responding to calls at the establishment. Statistics show that police responded to 129 calls last year for reports that included a stabbing, gunshots and public intoxication. The calls made Midtown the fifth busiest club for police response citywide, according to police statistics.
Knee said a sergeant and an additional dispatcher remain under investigation
C’mon bruh! Everyone knows that this is an “isolated incident” perpetrated by a few “misguided individuals”. It’s not racial or systemic in the least. That’s not the American Way. Just like Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay…
Austin 911 dispatchers are idiots. When I call to report an altercation or car wreck, I give the location and the nature of the incident very clearly using street names, either by block number or closest intersection, n,s,e, or w of the event. They always repeat back the wrong thing like stupid school children. I reported a vehicle stalled at night on Riverside, east of IH-35 in the off-ramp of IH-35 n’bound and the dispatcher proceded to say, “So, the car is stalled on 35?”. I reported a man beating his wife at the Bristol Square Townhomes on Douglas ave. They asked where the complex was, so I said 2336 Douglas, on the right after you turn off of Oltorf. she said, “So the apartments are on Oltorf?”
It’s like they can’t understand anything. My life may be in danger one day and these stupid bitches will get me killed before EMS/APD/AFD ever find the situation.