King County Sheriff’s Office opens review of Richard Sherman’s 911 call

The 911 call made by Richard Sherman’s wife last week raised many concerns about the attitude and behavior of the person who answered.

The city of Redmond, Washington has received many of these complaints. On Monday, the Redmond City Police Department released a statement aimed at making people understand that the call in question did not go to the city, but to the county.

“The Redmond Police Department received a series of misdirected complaints following the 911 audio broadcast of Richard Sherman’s arrest last week,” the statement said. “The online petitions and social media comments have raised questions about how the King County Sheriff’s Office handled the first calls to unincorporated King County 911.

“Many mistakenly associated these calls with the City of Redmond Communications Center, which is not connected to the King County Sheriff’s Office. The City of Redmond was not involved in the recordings highlighted by the complaints. The King County Sheriff’s Office, in response to public comments, has opened an administrative review of the case which will take several months to complete.

And here is the real title. The city of Redmond has publicly revealed that King County has launched a review of the appeal. (Like it should be.)

“I am proud of the actions of our Redmond Police personnel involved in this incident, including the very professional work of our Emergency Communications Specialists,” Redmond Police Chief Darrell Lowe said in the statement. . “As you listen to calls from Redmond 911, you will hear the voices of two male Redmond 911 specialists who have remained calm, empathetic and supportive of the caller in times of crisis.”

And, yes, that’s a slap in the face for the way the King County Sheriff’s Office handled the 911 call it got.

Criticism is deserved. The person who answered the call – and who knew it was being recorded – seemed impatient, combative, and unhelpful. She didn’t listen, and she didn’t seem to want to listen. Whatever the reason, this is not the way calls like this should be handled.