Fort Smith police review dispatcher language on call

FORT SMITH — The Police Department has launched an internal review in response to a Facebook post regarding one of its dispatchers.

Police Chief Danny Baker was made aware of a call over the weekend in which a dispatcher reportedly used offensive and inappropriate language in the background of a nonemergency call, Police spokesman Aric Mitchell said Tuesday.

The caller was contacted and, although they chose not to file a formal complaint against the dispatcher, the reported language was “troubling and unbecoming of a public servant,” according to the news release. This caused Baker to order an internal investigation.

Appropriate disciplinary action will be taken and made available for public review if the complaint holds merit, police said.

In the original Facebook post, which police provided, the caller described calling 911 to have a officer go out after being rear-ended the previous day. After a woman answered, the caller could barely hear what she said, with the woman “kinda” laughing.

The caller reported that while explaining what happened to the dispatcher, a person beside the dispatcher yelled, “That stupid [expletive]” so loudly the caller stopped talking. The dispatcher then reportedly said she was sorry about that while laughing.

“I don’t find this OK at all,” the caller said. “These are dispatchers. These are people who are supposed to be there for us! What if I was in an abusive situation/injured and I … needed someone fast and that happened?”

The caller also referenced the Aug. 24 drowning of Debra Stevens.

Stevens, a newspaper carrier, drowned in her car near 5801 Kinkead Ave. in Fort Smith while on the phone with a dispatcher after torrential rainfall resulted in flash flooding throughout the city. In the recording of the 911 call, which drew national attention, 911 call operator Donna Reneau told Stevens to “shut up” and chastised her for driving into floodwater.

Reneau had turned in her notice two weeks before Stephens’ death, with Aug. 24 being her last day as a 911 operator. Reneau faced no criminal charges in the death, and the Police Department’s internal review of the actions of Reneau and emergency responders during Stevens’ drowning, which was released Dec. 20, concluded Reneau did her duties as required.

“I told the police that came what happened and they were shocked/mad,” the caller said of the most recent phone call. “A sergeant called me, and I told him what happened, and he said she is going to get a verbal warning. I feel that this is a bit more serious than that since this is a reoccurring issue, but that could just be me.”