Emergency dispatcher disciplined

DETROIT, April 25 (UPI) -- A Detroit emergency dispatcher has been disciplined after police criticized the way she handled a child's call begging help for her dying mother, officials say.

Detroit Police Chief Warren Evans declined to name the exact nature of the punishment but he said, "There was discipline meted out in terms of her demeanor," The Detroit News reported Sunday.

The dispatcher allegedly did not ask the 8-year-old child what had happened during the March 1 incident, and although the operator sent a car to the scene of what turned out to be a double shooting without delay, her infraction was in her callousness, Evans said.

"The dispatcher did everything right except with her demeanor," Evans said. "Sometimes a little sensitivity might be warranted. We have to work on that."

"Dispatchers often become skeptical when a child calls," said Kelly Rasmussen, management consultant for Success Communications, a Charlotte, Mich., company that rolled out a program this month offering tips on how to take emergency calls from children. "In many cases, they think it's a prank call."

"They should create a script that tells them how to deal with kids," said Chloe White, 12.

White said she was ignored by a dispatcher last year when she reported a shooting across the street from her house.