Don’t indict 911 dispatch, Josh Powell is to blame

There’s been plenty of criticism about the way a 911 operator handled the Josh Powell case. Even though police admit the call from a case worker could have been handled better, 97.3 KIRO FM’s Ron and Don agree it wouldn’t have made a difference.

Listen to: Ron and Don: Josh Powell is the only one to blame

Don called a number of his friends and law enforcement to get their take on the situation, and their consensus was that little could have been done.

“For people to think if the cops got there five minutes earlier this wouldn’t have happened, that house was going to blow up. That house was a bomb. There’s nothing that a cop could have done,” says Don.

Don was told officers would have gone to the door and knocked, trying to establish contact, but not knowing whether he was armed, they would have been hesitant to kick in the door and storm the house.

“All I know is this: The cop would have gotten blown up too,” says Don.

As for how the call was handled, Don says 911 operators need to always err on the side of caution, regardless of how frustrating it is for a caller.

“It is the job of that call taker and that dispatcher to make sure that they gather so much information that by the time the officer gets there that they’re not throwing them into harms way.”

Ron thinks many people are simply trying to cope with the horrendous tragedy so it’s natural shift blame to the operator.

“I think what’s going on here is people, community wide, we’re going through the grief process and a lot of people are arriving at anger today. Now as a community we’re transitioning into wanting to blame someone and wanting to be angry,” Ron says.

Ultimately, both agree there’s only one person to blame: Josh Powell.