A lawsuit filed by more than 100 Nassau County 911 operators charges that the operators are not being properly trained. They also say there has been a massive cover-up by the county of a tragic miscommunication that resulted in a young girl being killed.
In a televised report, Jean Ebbert, who retired last year after 20 years as a Nassau County 911 operator, said insufficient training may have been responsible for a tragic incident at Hofstra University in which a hostage was killed by a police officer.
Ebbert says this happened in part because the wrong call type was sent out by the 911 operator.
According to Ebbert, newly hired operators are pressured to sign a document saying that they have received the required 21 hours of hands-on training that they never get.
In the incident in question, a gunman named Dalton Smith took four Hofstra students hostage during a botched robbery. He was holding 21-year-old Andrea Rebello in a headlock when police entered the house.
Smith threatened to kill the girl and when he pointed his weapon at the police officer, the officer fired back killing the gunman and his hostage.
Nassau Police Benevolent Association President James Carver claims the officers responded to a “robbery in progress” and were not told by 911 that there were hostages.
“We have a call type ‘hostage.’ It’s there, but have I ever been trained on when to use hostage and not use ‘robbery with a weapon?’ No, I’ve never been trained on that,” Ebbert said.
That’s a remarkable statement coming from a woman who worked for 20 years as a 911 operator. And, if true, it is a remarkable failure on the part of the NCPD.
If the officers had known there were hostages, their approach to the crime scene would have been entirely different. Rebello might still be alive.
Each month a surcharge of about $1.20 appears on your phone bill, which funds the state’s 911 services. Some of that money should go to adequate training.
NCPD is not talking about the Hofstra incident because of pending litigation.
But it did issue a statement in which it said, “The county’s position is quite defensible … our review reveals that appropriate training is provided to all 911 operators.”
Stop the dodging.
Are the operators given 21 hours of training or anything close to it? Or are they being pressured to sign a document that simply isn’t true?
It’s a simple question.
