A tip o’ the hat to dispatchers in pizza-party showdown
It’s Christmas, and here’s some good news.
The events that spun out of Gov. Susana Martinez’s pizza party the night of Dec. 12 at the Eldorado hotel have been parsed and rehashed over the past week, almost universally to the detriment of the governor, who was obviously combative and possibly — in the term offered by a police sergeant — “inebriated” as she reacted to a late-night complaint about noise from her group’s hotel room after a holiday party.
What’s a positive in recordings from dispatch calls and an officer’s belt recorder is that the people who were dealing with the disturbing-the-peace complaint come off as professional and courteous as they find themselves in a bizarre situation — the governor of New Mexico trying to call off a routine police response to a report of noise and bottle-throwing.
Emergency dispatchers have stressful jobs and have caught their share of flak in recent years. In Albuquerque in June, one hung up on a frantic teenaged girl because she cursed in response to questions as she was giving CPR to a friend who had been shot (and later died). In Cleveland’s Tamir Rice case, a dispatcher failed to tell responding officers that they were dealing with a child possibly wielding a toy gun and Rice died from police gunfire.
The dispatchers talking to Martinez over the phone two weeks ago in the middle of the night never lost their cool, consistently addressing Martinez politely as “ma’am,” even as she pushed and prodded. Here’s a sample from one of the dispatch call recordings:
Governor: “Why are you coming to the Eldorado Hotel?”
Dispatcher: “Because we were called out there.” Governor: “For what purpose?” Dispatcher: “In reference to loud noise.”
Governor: “Loud noise? We’re in a room eating pizza.”
Dispatcher: “I’m sorry, ma’am. Someone called us out there and we have to go.”
Governor: “Someone? Who is someone?”
Dispatcher: “I can’t give you that information, ma’am.”
Governor: “Why can you not? It is public record — give it to me.”
Dispatcher: “Give me one second, ma’am.” The dispatcher then went to talk to a supervisor.
In another exchange, the governor wants to know why a call about a hotel party requires “three police officers to be here.” The dispatcher states, “Their response is up to them, depending on the severity of the call.”
The governor likewise didn’t provoke any kind of aggravated back-talk when speaking with a police sergeant and a hotel security guard, as captured on the sergeant’s belt recorder, despite a testy comment. She said “I didn’t know we could not talk in our rooms” as part of a purported apology after being told about the noise that the guard said was coming from her room at 1:30 a.m.
So, robust congratulations and Happy Holidays are in order for the dispatchers, police officers and hotel personnel who got caught up in this kerfuffle. Maybe someone should throw them a party.