Officials admit mistakes after 911 call goes unanswered
A 14-year-old girl calls 911. She's home alone, in a desperate situation. But no one ever shows up to help.
It began at 10 p.m. Sunday night, November 5th. The 911 tapes tell the story. When the operator asks what her emergency is, Jana Kansanback answers, "Hi, I think there's someone outside my house." Jana is alone at her rural, Silvana home. A masked man has just slammed into her back door.
The 911 operator asks, "Did they knock on your door?"
You can hear Jana's desperation, "No they like slammed up against my......"
"What I'm going to do is go ahead and notify the sheriff's department of this okay?" the operator tells Jana. Help - is on the way.
"Okay, thank you," Jana responds.
Jana's family lives on a quiet stretch of country road in northern Snohomish County. That week, her only nearby neighbors were out of town. And her parents were miles away in Monroe, in contact only by cell phone.
"I kept telling her it was okay," says Jana's mother Teresa Miller, "because she had called the police and they would be here."
But, the Snohomish County Sheriff's office was not on the way. Twenty-three minutes after Jana's first call, "9-1-1 what's your emergency?" She calls 911 -- again.
Jana is quietly crying as she tells the operator, "and the lady told me to call back if something else was happening and now there's someone banging on one of the windows in my house." Twenty-three minutes - while a masked man bangs on her windows and she hides.
The operator asks, "and you hear him banging on a door or a window?"
Jana is nearly hysterical as she answers, "one of the windows on my parent's bedroom side of the house!" Twenty-three minutes - Jana is still alone -- crying and hiding.
Again, a 911 operator promises help. "Okay Jana, looks like I've got an officer on the way right now." The Snohomish Coumty Sheriff's Office sends a deputy. Their computer dispatch report shows a deputy finally arrives at Jana's address 37 minutes after her first 911 call, but never goes to her door.
Jana's house is down a long driveway nearly two tenths of a mile from the road, behind a stand of trees. There's no way anyone from the road could check out their house.
Miller, Jana's mom, is tearful even talking about it, "I can't always be there to protect her and I wasn't there to protect her and I needed help and we didn't get it - and it hurts."
More than an hour after Jana's first 911 call, distant neighbors, and finally Jana's parents arrive to find Jana hysterical, but safe. Now Jana asks, "I just want to know why a teenager home alone on the phone called twice, hysterical and still they didn't send anyone to my house?"
When Miller demanded answers, 911 blamed the deputy, and the deputy blamed 911. So Miller contacted KOMO 4's Problem Solvers. "I'm very angry that whoever dropped the ball is continuing on," she said.
We discovered problems at both the 911 call center - SnoPac for this part of the county - and at the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office. SnoPac Director Tom Howell would not agree to an on camera interview, but did go over the call records with us. Howell admits, "it appears to me that a mistake was made."
Although 911 operators clearly knew Jana's situation, SnoPac Operations Manager Dave Ripley confirms, "we did not verbally advise them," the Sheriff's Office, "that it was a 14 year old home alone." Also, for 23 minutes, they didn't tell deputies there was a prowler outside the house.
Sheriff Rick Bart tells me they've had problems with SnoPac dispatchers before, but admits his office deserves part of the blame. "I think the deputy, no matter what, should have gotten out of the car, walked up to the door and knocked on the door," says Sheriff Bart, "and told them, we're here, we looked, we've seen nothing, everything's okay."
After our investigation, SnoPac and the Sheriff say they have talked to their operators and deputies, and believe they have now fixed the problem. Jana and her mom just want to feel safe again. Miller says, "I'm a mom whose little punkin' was left unprotected and I take that very seriously." Now they do feel safe again.
SnoPac handles over half a million calls every year and in spite of this problem, they believe they have a good system.
It began at 10 p.m. Sunday night, November 5th. The 911 tapes tell the story. When the operator asks what her emergency is, Jana Kansanback answers, "Hi, I think there's someone outside my house." Jana is alone at her rural, Silvana home. A masked man has just slammed into her back door.
The 911 operator asks, "Did they knock on your door?"
You can hear Jana's desperation, "No they like slammed up against my......"
"What I'm going to do is go ahead and notify the sheriff's department of this okay?" the operator tells Jana. Help - is on the way.
"Okay, thank you," Jana responds.
Jana's family lives on a quiet stretch of country road in northern Snohomish County. That week, her only nearby neighbors were out of town. And her parents were miles away in Monroe, in contact only by cell phone.
"I kept telling her it was okay," says Jana's mother Teresa Miller, "because she had called the police and they would be here."
But, the Snohomish County Sheriff's office was not on the way. Twenty-three minutes after Jana's first call, "9-1-1 what's your emergency?" She calls 911 -- again.
Jana is quietly crying as she tells the operator, "and the lady told me to call back if something else was happening and now there's someone banging on one of the windows in my house." Twenty-three minutes - while a masked man bangs on her windows and she hides.
The operator asks, "and you hear him banging on a door or a window?"
Jana is nearly hysterical as she answers, "one of the windows on my parent's bedroom side of the house!" Twenty-three minutes - Jana is still alone -- crying and hiding.
Again, a 911 operator promises help. "Okay Jana, looks like I've got an officer on the way right now." The Snohomish Coumty Sheriff's Office sends a deputy. Their computer dispatch report shows a deputy finally arrives at Jana's address 37 minutes after her first 911 call, but never goes to her door.
Jana's house is down a long driveway nearly two tenths of a mile from the road, behind a stand of trees. There's no way anyone from the road could check out their house.
Miller, Jana's mom, is tearful even talking about it, "I can't always be there to protect her and I wasn't there to protect her and I needed help and we didn't get it - and it hurts."
More than an hour after Jana's first 911 call, distant neighbors, and finally Jana's parents arrive to find Jana hysterical, but safe. Now Jana asks, "I just want to know why a teenager home alone on the phone called twice, hysterical and still they didn't send anyone to my house?"
When Miller demanded answers, 911 blamed the deputy, and the deputy blamed 911. So Miller contacted KOMO 4's Problem Solvers. "I'm very angry that whoever dropped the ball is continuing on," she said.
We discovered problems at both the 911 call center - SnoPac for this part of the county - and at the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office. SnoPac Director Tom Howell would not agree to an on camera interview, but did go over the call records with us. Howell admits, "it appears to me that a mistake was made."
Although 911 operators clearly knew Jana's situation, SnoPac Operations Manager Dave Ripley confirms, "we did not verbally advise them," the Sheriff's Office, "that it was a 14 year old home alone." Also, for 23 minutes, they didn't tell deputies there was a prowler outside the house.
Sheriff Rick Bart tells me they've had problems with SnoPac dispatchers before, but admits his office deserves part of the blame. "I think the deputy, no matter what, should have gotten out of the car, walked up to the door and knocked on the door," says Sheriff Bart, "and told them, we're here, we looked, we've seen nothing, everything's okay."
After our investigation, SnoPac and the Sheriff say they have talked to their operators and deputies, and believe they have now fixed the problem. Jana and her mom just want to feel safe again. Miller says, "I'm a mom whose little punkin' was left unprotected and I take that very seriously." Now they do feel safe again.
SnoPac handles over half a million calls every year and in spite of this problem, they believe they have a good system.