Telecommunicator in Powell Murder-Suicide Reprimanded
Public Safety Communications has obtained a copy of the letter of reprimand that will be placed in the personnel file of David Lovrak, the telecommunicator who took the 9-1-1 call from a social worker just before Josh Powell killed his children and then himself.
“You have undergone local and national scrutiny, have admitted your errors, and have identified the ways you will correct and improve your call handling in the future,” wrote Diana Lock, the assistant director of the Law Enforcement Support Agency, which operates the 9-1-1 call center.
In the letter, Lock details the investigation and indicates that Lovrak learned several lessons from the incident, some of which telecommunicators around the country may want to take to heart, particularly those of concern, courtesy and trust. “Could you have handled this call better?” asks Lock. “Yes, and you have been the first to admit that,” she wrote to Lovrak.
Lock concluded: “[Given] the fact that the public trust has been shaken, and therefore multiple LESA Operational Manual sections violated, formal discipline is necessary and appropriate.”
The written letter of reprimand will be placed in Lovrak’s personnel and division files.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports that dispatcher David Lovrak was reprimanded after 22 minutes elapsed before help arrived. The reprimand letter says nearly seven minutes went by before deputies were sent.
According to the Associated Press, Powell was a person of interest in his wife’s 2009 Utah disappearance and had lost custody of his two sons. On Feb. 5, he grabbed them during a visit near Puyallup, Wash., slammed the door on the social worker, and killed them and himself by setting the house on fire.