Dane County Changes 911 Policy After UW-Madison Student's Death

MADISON, Wis. -- Dane County will now forward all 911 calls made from cell phones to police.

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The county's 911 center board agreed to the new policy on Wednesday after a call from a slain University of Wisconsin-Madison student's cell phone was apparently mishandled.

County officials have said a dispatcher failed to return a call from Brittany Zimmermann's phone around the time that she was killed on April 2. Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk instructed the 911 center to review the policy.

Zimmermann's family has filed a federal lawsuit against the county and the 911 operator who handled the call.

The previous policy said police wouldn't be dispatched if the 911 operator couldn't determine whether there was an emergency.

The new policy said that police will be dispatched when the cell phone's specific location can be determined. When it can't, police will be notified and it will be up to them to decide how to respond.

Joe Norwick, director of the county's 911 Call Center, said the new protocol redefines and clarifies the relationship between dispatchers and officers.

"(It clarifies) what do we do with those calls where we don't know really what they're about. And like I said, (police are) agreeing to take those calls and work with us, versus sole discretion with the communicator," Norwick said.

But for cell phones without GPS, police will use their discretion and may or may not respond, depending on the situation.

"This is the appropriate method by which to respond to these questionable calls for service," said Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney.

Mahoney said he expects an increase in the number of service calls, but he said the daily increase should be minimal.

"Somewhere in the area of eight to 10 questionable 911 cellular calls come in specifically for the sheriff's office. I don't think that all will be insurmountable," Mahoney said.

The Madison Police Department said that regardless of the potential increase in calls, every 911 call should be taken seriously.

"Any time 911 is being dialed or called, it definitely means there might be a problem there," said Howard Payne, of the Madison Police Department.

Officials at the 911 Center said they'll be taking close look at how the new policy affects the number of calls and report their findings with the 911 Center Board members throughout the year.

The changes come as the county considers a new audit of the 911 Center this summer.