Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 17, 1995 TAG: 9509180072
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MANASSAS LENGTH: Medium
Angela Alanis called police for help at 3 a.m. on Sept. 9 after she heard two men trying to break into her Manassas town house. During the conversation with the civilian dispatcher, Alanis used the word ``nigger'' several times in reference to the prowlers.
After Alanis gave her address, the unidentified female dispatcher called back to get more information about where the woman lived. The dispatcher then rebuked Alanis for her choice of words, saying she would ``appreciate if you wouldn't call the black gentlemen niggers. ... You're setting your children a bad example,'' according to a tape of the conversation.
Alanis, a licensed practical nurse from the Middle East, said she considers the racial epithet a harmless word and was dumbfounded by the dispatcher's reprimand.
``If they were gentlemen, they wouldn't have been trying to break into my house,'' Alanis, 48, said angrily. ``I could have been raped or killed. What this woman did was outrageous.''
While the dispatcher lectured her, Alanis said, she went to the window and yelled at the men, threatening to shoot them. They fled without doing any damage, she said.
Alanis said she was unsure during the second, seven-minute conversation whether police had been sent to her house. Records show that a cruiser was dispatched to the house during the call and arrived minutes later.
Alanis has since filed a complaint with the police department. If it were up to her, she said, the dispatcher would be fired.
The dispatcher, who is white, could face disciplinary action after the internal investigation is completed, according to police officials.
``It is not within the purview of any dispatcher to give someone a lecture when they call for help,'' Manassas Police Chief Christopher Tutko said. ``We will review the case.''
by CNB