Complete Colorado‘s Todd Shepherd was able to get his hands on audio from a controversial dispatch decision that placed Denver Mayor Michael Hancock’s call about a potential break in ahead of average Denverites. When the Mayor’s office called to report a possible burglary without any details or even confirmation anything was taken, the call was de-prioritized. Seems right, no? According to the report:
“Despite this lack of information and after the call to police lingered in the dispatch system for over an hour and a half, the Mayor’s office called a Deputy Denver Police Chief asking them to call dispatch in an attempt to see if the situation could be expedited. Denver Deputy Chief of Administration Mary Beth Klee took up the task, calling dispatch and giving clear verbal hints that calls from the Mayor’s office should be prioritized, but hedged those suggestions each time as well.”
The hedging is hilarious. Klee says: “And I understand, I’m not trying to bump people, but it’s the Mayor, OK?” So, in other words: “I’m not trying to bump calls like weapons calls, for example, but I am actually trying to bump people.” Just listen:
Look, if the Mayor was in danger, we’d get it. But, pulling rank just because the Mayor holds an elected office for a situation in which there may have been no crime committed is pretty audacious.