WASHINGTON, D.C. - 911 operators caught on tape talking about police officers and potentially putting their lives in danger.

911 RECORDINGS

On April 11, 2008 at approximately 6:10 pm, an off-duty police officer from the Metropolitan Police Department’s 1st District called in for back-up to the 2200 block of 14th Street, SE.

According to a complaint filed by the Fraternal Order of Police, the officer, who goes by the call sign 1105, had witnessed a hit and run in the 7th District. He had stopped the fleeing car and was “initiating a check” on the suspect “when the subject attempted to run.”

The 911 dispatcher recording isolates what the 7-D Dispatcher said on the police radio and on the phone. At times, she quickly switches back and forth between the two, sometimes in mid-sentence.

The police radio records what the police officers in 7-D could hear on the street.

By comparing the two recordings, the FOP says it’s obvious the 7D Dispatcher was having a private conversation with another 911 operator that distracted her from the job. The FOP says she interfered with police duties, gave out incorrect addresses and missed Officer 1105’s repeated calls for backup, putting him and other officers in danger.