Delayed Police Response to Powell Emergency Raises New Questions

on February 10, 2012 at 10:31 AM

911 call powell emergency Washington state dad Josh Powell's murder-suicide story is so nightmarish, it's only natural for people to obsess over the details and even point fingers needlessly in a desperate attempt to make sense of it. Now that the log for the 911 call by a social worker has been released, attention is shifting to the 911 dispatcher and whether he caused an unnecessary delay in dispatching an emergency response team to the Powell home.

According to the call logs, almost eight minutes lapsed between when the social worker called 911 to report that Josh Powell's children were in danger and when the police were dispatched. The dispatcher spent nearly seven minutes of this time questioning the social worker (he had a hard time understanding that she was there to supervise the child custody visit). Then, because he didn't believe the situation to be life-threatening, he dispatched it as a "routine" call instead of an "emergency." When the police finally arrived at the Powell home 22 minutes after the social worker first placed the call, it was too late: The home had already been torched.

Of course, the frustrating delay raises the inevitable question: Could a quicker response time have prevented this tragedy?

Sadly, I think we all know the answer to this question: No.

I don't know about you, but this is one of my greatest anxieties: That in an emergency, no one will arrive in time to help. This story plays right into that. But remember: Powell set his house on fire a mere minutes after his children arrived home. There are reports of explosions at the house at 12:16 p.m. -- eight minutes after the social worker placed the called. Even if the dispatcher had been able to shave a few minutes off the response time, it still wouldn't have been enough time to save the two kids. Washington state authorities have even said that while it was "bad etiquette" for the dispatcher to leave the social worker with the impression that help was not "immediately" on the way, it didn't result in an unnecessary delay.

In the rush to point fingers, we have to remember who the real villain here is -- not the social worker who couldn't rescue the kids, not the dispatcher may have fumbled the call, not the police who didn't arrive in time. Rather, the villain is Josh Powell who planned the whole thing and knew exactly what he was doing. Nothing could have prevented this tragedy and that's perhaps why it's so hard to move on from it.

Image via SierraTierra/Flickr

About the author Kim Conte

has shoes that make people stop her on the street and ask "Where did you get those?" but it doesn't work for taxi cabs as she was hit by one ... and lived to tell the tale. She has more freckles than Lohan but way less attitude. And she's a fierce cook with tons of recipes to share -- and wishes she could share some with Bourdain.

Filed Under: crime

Comments (9)

Kritika

on Feb 10, 2012 at 10:34 AM

I was more understanding before I read the call transcript. It is INSANE that the dispatcher should continue in his position. Asking all sorts of stupid questions instead of rushing help there are soon as he got an address and a general idea of the situation.

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arliss123

on Feb 10, 2012 at 11:05 AM

Maybe the dispatcher should lose his job for incompetence, but it's also important to remember that Powell whacked both boys with a hatchet before he blew up the house; also, he used gas. He could have easily blown up the house the moment he heard sirens or saw a cop car. So, maybe him losing his job could save someone else, but it wouldn't have helped the Powell boys.

hoticedcoffee

on Feb 10, 2012 at 11:14 AM

I lay blame at the foot of the judge who authorized the visitation in the first place. Powell NEVER should have had an opportunity to do what he did, especially when he did it - days before undergoing a psychosexual evaluation due to disturbing graphic images on his home computer. The legal system failed these boys.

Melissa042807

on Feb 10, 2012 at 11:18 AM

Whether it was 8 minutes or 30 seconds, Josh Powell killed those boys almost as soon as they walked in the door. As far as we know, anyway. So I don't blame the dispatcher for their deaths.

I DO, however, blame the dispatcher for taking so long in a situation where children were involved.

doll0302

on Feb 10, 2012 at 11:42 AM

This is in NO WAY the fault of anyone except that POS Powell. The social worker reported this as a case of visitation that was not going the right way. Of course they are going to make it a routine call. This whole situation was always a mess. Unfortunately, even though he was a suspect in his wife's dissapearence, he was never charged with anything, and he was entitled to visitation. Personally, if you have lost custody of your kids, I don't think that it is smart to allow visitation in a home setting. It should be neutral because this allows for the parent to do whatever they want. Obviously this guy executed a plan to have a gas leak inthis house to kill these kids.

CadesMum

on Feb 10, 2012 at 12:24 PM

Omg

Facebook comment from Debbie Rogers Hale

on Feb 10, 2012 at 12:52 PM

First and foremost it is Powells fault but it is also the fault of the prosecutors and judge. They should have listed him as a suspect and that would have lead to him being denied visitation. They should have used the incestuous pictures that were on his computer against him, not to mention the sick things about his Dad. And once the kids started saying that, "their Mommy was in the trunk", they should have stopped letting him see them. Once again adults get the benefit of a doubt and kids pay the price. CPS (Childrens Protective Services) I think not.!

GlowWorm889

on Feb 10, 2012 at 8:57 PM

Even without the delay, there is no way any emergency service could have reached the house in time to save those little boys. It happened so fast that the police would literally have to be next door for them to have been any help.