Tallahassee and Leon County officials will release the results of an audit of the emergency dispatch center. The facility has had problems since it opened two years ago, and those problems complicated two high-profile incidents that occurred last year.
Last summer, it took nearly twenty minutes for help to arrive when FSU Professor Dan Markel was murdered in his Betton Hills home. There were more delays and confusion when Leon Sheriff’s Deputy Chris Smith was killed this past November in an ambush. Three employees were fired after an internal review found they never relayed information about safety hazards when first responders showed up to the address.
Leon County Sheriff Mike Wood admits there have been many problems at the center.
“You know we merged two organizations, two totally different cultures and that’s a tall order. And those folks were asked to leave what they called home; the sheriff’s office and the police department,” Wood said, during an appearance on WFSU-FM’s “Perspectives”.
Now Wood awaits the results of months of investigation by the Tallahassee City Auditor.
“It’s been done and I think that audit is going to be vetted out at a board meeting, which I’m a member of the board as a result of being appointed sheriff, so I’m pretty comfortable we’re going in the right direction,” Wood said.
Also on the board, County Administrator Vince Long and City Manager Anita Favors Thompson. That meeting happens Friday (March 13) at 10 a.m. at the Dispatch Center on Easterwood Drive.
