Coral Springs Police: 911 Supervisor Watching Netflix During Shooting Call
CORAL SPRINGS (CBSMiami) – A Coral Springs Police Department Internal Affairs report provides a shocking snapshot inside the Coral Springs police 911 call center on June 9. The allegations in the report revealed the mishandling of a shooting that led to a more than 30 minute delay for officers to be dispatched and a supervisor who spent "inordinate amount of time" streaming TV shows and movies.
According to the report, a woman called just before 7 p.m. to report "that something just blew through her car and she said that she wasn't sure if it was a bullet or something."
The caller said "something shot through the back window and hit the front windshield and almost hit her head." She said "there is a hot metal piece still inside of the car that landed on her lap." It was possibly a bullet.
Coral Springs police say the 911 call takers mislabeled the call, considering it a suspicious incident when it should have classified as a shooting. In fact, the victim called 911 two more times, including once to say that she was going to drive to the police department. During the second call, "The caller was very upset and concerned that they may shoot again" as the "the call taker said that an officer will be out there as soon as someone is available."
The victim's sister called once during a more than 30 minute span saying that her sister called 911 and "nobody came out."
Ultimately, police determined that "The time between when the first call came in to the time it was dispatched to officers is 34 minutes."
The Internal Affairs report says the supervisor on duty that night, Julie Vidaud, was preoccupied.
The report says "during the time of the incident, Vidaud's workstation was logged on to Netflix." The report says a Hilary Swank movie was playing on her computer during the 911 call.
"An analysis for this information suggests that the movie "I Am Mother" played for 1 hour 53 minutes at Vidaud's workstation while the incident in question was occurring," the report says.
Vidaud told the Internal Affairs investigator that "she was working on performance evaluations during that time frame." Vidaud was investigated for two allegations — failing to supervise her employees and untruthfulness.
The police investigation determined that Vidaud did work on evaluations at some point that night but it's not entirely clear when. The Internal Affairs Sergeant David Kirkland said she may have "confused" the time frames that she was working on evaluations and there is no evidence to show that Vidaud intentionally lied to (her boss, Kathy Liriano.)"
However, it was determined that Vidaud failed to supervise the employees who handled the call.
"The evidence conclusively shows that Vidaud spends an inordinate amount of time conducting personal business on the computer to include playing streaming TV and movies," the report says.
Vidaud admitted that movies are "constantly running in the background but she's not constantly watching movies." The report says "Vidaud said that there is no way that she could have been sitting there watching a movie for two hours unless it was 3 o'clock in the morning."
Ultimately, Viduad admitted her mistakes in dealing with the errors with the call.
She also said "I wish I would have caught it. So, I mean I failed that particular call and I hate that."
Vidaud is facing suspension and when asked she promised the Internal Affairs investigator that Netflix will no longer be running in the background at work. In fact, Coral Springs police made that a new policy. In a statement the department said, "The Coral Springs Police Department Communications Center policy has also been changed to prohibit any streaming of media services during their shifts."
Coral Springs said the two employees who handled the initial calls were terminated.
Coral Springs police say they arrested a suspect in the shooting and charged him with attempted premeditated murder.
