2012.02.07 - 911 Tapes Released

[my_tee_mouse]

Originally Posted by x_files

How did she get there? Maybe she went into panic and couldn't think straight. Poor woman. CPS needs to train their caseworkers for such crisis. Josh is a very evil man ruined everything he touched.

pip

Oh my lordy. The CPS supervisor says the kids may be in danger. Smells gasoline, a child is crying. She cannot give the 911 operator the address after multiple requests. "I don't know the address." This is not good. ILL- prepared for such a potentially dangerous situation.. Shame on the State of WA for having such loose and haphazard protocols and substandard training of it's case workers. NOT OK. The visits are supervised in the event that something bad may happen. The address should be at her fingertips in the event she needs to call 911, like on Sunday. The address was in her car, not on her person. How could she call for help if she were in the house and needed 911, if the address was in her car? It makes no sense.
I feel very very awful for her, but this is not an effective plan of action should things go wrong, as they did.

__________________

How in the world do you train anyone for such a crisis? How often does something like this happen? And the dispatchers weren't helping matters...interrupting, talking over callers when they were trying to give pertinent information. Meanwhile, people are watching a house engulfed in flames, and in the CPS worker's case, watching, knowing the babes were in there!

It's sooooo easy for us to sit here in the safety of our homes and second-guess. But there's no way any of us can predict how we'd react, how fast we'd react, what we would do, and what we would not do when Armageddon is happening in front of your very eyes.

[Starry Night]

Originally Posted by jjenny

We sure do. It's in the 911 call. They didn't blank it.

How unfortunate-but at least we know who to pray for.

[ynotdivein]

There will be NO bashing or deriding or second-guessing of what the social worker did, or how they reacted in the moment.

May no one here ever have to experience what that person has.

[yllek]

Josh's sister Alina didn't know the address either when she called to report he was sending troubling emails and stuff. Too much time wasted if the children were already in the house for 10 minutes when the visitation case worker called 911, she was told to wait for a deputy, and it was some time after that the fire was called in by the neighbor and emergency personnel arrived. Those boys were held captive in a house where it was known the second they stepped in that there was a smell of gas and an unhinged man in control of a life-threatening situation.

Not blaming anyone but Josh Powell, murderer. But, I'm glad it's been publicly announced that DHSS/CPS is reviewing the processes and determining what could have been done differently. The same should be done for the 911 operation. This shouldn't have happened. It shouldn't happen again if it's at all preventable. JMO...

[christee]

Originally Posted by jjenny

And I really wonder how long all of this took.

Sometimes incoming info is not as clear as we'd like it to be. I have no doubt 911 was overloaded with calls from people wondering wth was going on after hearing, what, 3 explosions (I believe it was stated 3 but not sure if that's changed).

[LNL]

Originally Posted by jjenny

We sure do. It's in the 911 call. They didn't blank it.

And the make, model and color of her car. Oh, and her license plate #.

I really think all of that should have been redacted.

I also wasn't impressed with the 911 operators.

[x_files]

Originally Posted by my_tee_mouse

pip


__________________

How in the world do you train anyone for such a crisis? How often does something like this happen? And the dispatchers weren't helping matters...interrupting, talking over callers when they were trying to give pertinent information. Meanwhile, people are watching a house engulfed in flames, and in the CPS worker's case, watching, knowing the babes were in there!

It's sooooo easy for us to sit here in the safety of our homes and second-guess. But there's no way any of us can predict how we'd react, how fast we'd react, what we would do, and what we would not do when Armageddon is happening in front of your very eyes.

I don't blame her but CPS should be trained or sent an escort of an armed and trained police officer.
This wasn't a normal visitation. It was from a murder suspect and a high profile/volatile case. the courts should have never appt. visitations at all. This was too dangerous anyone who is following this case could tell he was a ticking time bomb.

[jjenny]

Originally Posted by LNL

And the make, model and color of her car. Oh, and her license plate #.

I really think all of that should have been redacted.

I also wasn't impressed with the 911 operators.

Neither am I. Not impressed. The first one (before the fire) promised her the first available deputy was going to contact her. How much before the fire was that?

[pip]

I understand she was shocked. But as a "crisis worker", she must be trained by her employer to be prepared and effective as possible in the event of a crisis. How do we hope to have better crisis intervention for children without being able to address the obvious short-comings of the system in place to protect children in crisis? Ill-training is a short-coming. This is not an attack on the poor woman. It is an identified failure of the systems training and expectations of her. The address is crucial.

[jjenny]

Originally Posted by christee

Sometimes incoming info is not as clear as we'd like it to be. I have no doubt 911 was overloaded with calls from people wondering wth was going on after hearing, what, 3 explosions (I believe it was stated 3 but not sure if that's changed).

The first 911 call was before the fire. So at that time 911 shouldn't have been overloaded with calls about explosions. They haven't happened yet.

[Kimster]

Originally Posted by pip

I understand she was shocked. But as a "crisis worker", she must be trained by her employer to be prepared and effective as possible in the event of a crisis. How do we hope to have better crisis intervention for children without being able to address the obvious short-comings of the system in place to protect children in crisis? Ill-training is a short-coming. This is not an attack on the poor woman. It is an identified failure of the systems training and expectations of her. The address is crucial.

If I were her, one of my emotions right now would be anger that I wasn't trained for a situation like this one.

My heart goes out to her.

[pip]

Originally Posted by Kimster

If I were her, one of my emotions right now would be anger that I wasn't trained for a situation like this one.

My heart goes out to her.

I totally and completely agree. I believe she is acutely aware now of the of the danger she was placed in, and the ill-preparation for such a task.

[my_tee_mouse]

Originally Posted by ynotdivein

There will be NO bashing or deriding or second-guessing of what the social worker did, or how they reacted in the moment.

May no one here ever have to experience what that person has.

Yesyesyes.

I am a social worker. My social worker friends and I are stunned and shaken and beyond saddened by this whole situation. We have tried to put ourselves in this caseworker's place...shuddered to imagine what she was going through. We have seriously questioned why we are in this line of work, and we have each set personal boundaries against working in supervised visitation situations.

Several of us are currently working toward our psychotherapy licenses, and we agree that we will never agree to allow our offices to be used as venues for supervised visitation. In fact, I decided a long time ago that when I do go into private practice, my secretary/assistant will be a big, burly guy with a big, burly weapon for protection. A few of my friends used to chuckle when I'd say that. They aren't laughing now.

God bless this poor woman. She was put in a situation that just never happens! And yet it did. Had she been a S.W.A.T. team member, much of what happened would have still happened. I pray she finds peace and can get the visions out of her head.

[x_files]

Originally Posted by pip

I understand she was shocked. But as a "crisis worker", she must be trained by her employer to be prepared and effective as possible in the event of a crisis. How do we hope to have better crisis intervention for children without being able to address the obvious short-comings of the system in place to protect children in crisis? Ill-training is a short-coming. This is not an attack on the poor woman. It is an identified failure of the systems training and expectations of her. The address is crucial.

Thank you I couldn't say it better.
I am not blaming her I feel Josh has caused so much pain to everyone he meet. I feel horrible he traumatized her too.
I do question CPS and the caseworkers do encounter some pretty scary situations daily from what I hear from friends who used to work in social services. From arguing parents, domestic violence to physical threats.
I think they need training just as a police officer does. They are asking to protect and keep the peace in some really frightening, dangerous situations.
If it was at an office she would have had many others to call in for help. I feel horrible they sent her there with those boys.

[Kitty Kat]

Originally Posted by jjenny

Neither am I. Not impressed. The first one (before the fire) promised her the first available deputy was going to contact her. How much before the fire was that?

He was actually pretty rude to her at the end there.

[Wondergirl]

I am so distraught.

I just heard about the hatchet. My heart is absolutely breaking. I am so sorry for these beautiful boys, their family and friends, omg.

[christee]

Originally Posted by jjenny

The first 911 call was before the fire. So at that time 911 shouldn't have been overloaded with calls about explosions. They haven't happened yet.

I believe 911 was getting calls from friends and relatives about the emails he'd sent out. The madness started well before the explosion.

[Kimster]

Originally Posted by ynotdivein

There will be NO bashing or deriding or second-guessing of what the social worker did, or how they reacted in the moment.

May no one here ever have to experience what that person has.

Thank you ynotdivein. And I have to add that if I see this social worker's name on this site, I'm going to warm up the ray gun.

[Starry Night]

Pip, X, M Tee-thanks for turning the conversation into something positive, meaning there can be some good come out of this........

[jjenny]

Originally Posted by christee

I believe 911 was getting calls from friends and relatives about the emails he'd sent out. The madness started well before the explosion.

The guy caseworker talked to before the fire clearly knew nothing about any of that.

[jjenny]

Originally Posted by Kimster

Thank you ynotdivein. And I have to add that if I see this social worker's name on this site, I'm going to warm up the ray gun.

The name has been published in msm.

[grandmaj]

Originally Posted by my_tee_mouse

Yesyesyes.

I am a social worker. My social worker friends and I are stunned and shaken and beyond saddened by this whole situation. We have tried to put ourselves in this caseworker's place...shuddered to imagine what she was going through. We have seriously questioned why we are in this line of work, and we have each set personal boundaries against working in supervised visitation situations.

Several of us are currently working toward our psychotherapy licenses, and we agree that we will never agree to allow our offices to be used as venues for supervised visitation. In fact, I decided a long time ago that when I do go into private practice, my secretary/assistant will be a big, burly guy with a big, burly weapon for protection. A few of my friends used to chuckle when I'd say that. They aren't laughing now.

God bless this poor woman. She was put in a situation that just never happens! And yet it did. Had she been a S.W.A.T. team member, much of what happened would have still happened. I pray she finds peace and can get the visions out of her head.

Thank You. This woman was placed in a situation that no one could have in their worst dreams imagined. It is an act of evil and this woman will live with it the rest of her life. I refuse to second guess her. I wasn't there and I won't ever in my heart believe she didn't do everything within her power to get help for those boys.

[SyraKelly]

her name should have been redacted from the calls before being made public-hopefully the media will respect this poor woman's privacy and let her get the help she needs and not hound her for an interview!!!

[jjenny]

Originally Posted by SyraKelly

her name should have been redacted from the calls before being made public-hopefully the media will respect this poor woman's privacy and let her get the help she needs and not hound her for an interview!!!

Knowing our media the chance of that happening is about nill to none.

[shana]

Originally Posted by jjenny

The name has been published in msm.

...as well as her cell phone #, both of which should have been redacted (and more personal data) before the release of these tapes.