The city of Lawrence, Mass. is confronting a different kind of 911 emergency: a veteran call-taker who officials say is a roadblock to Spanish speaking-callers seeking help in a crisis. 

Acting Lawrence Police Chief James Fitzpatrick is attempting to fire call-taker Dianne D’Iorio for allegedly obstructing callers, including by failing to forward those who speak only Spanish to Spanish-speaking staff at headquarters.

“I don’t speak Spanish,” D’Iorio told a man who spoke little English in a call she answered Nov. 29, a recording of the conversation shows. “Just English.”

“Is there someone who speak Spanish?” the caller asks in halting English.

“Nope. Just English. OK?” D’Iorio responded.

“OK. Thank you,” the caller said.

“All right. Bye, bye,” D’Iorio responded.

The call ended at 26 seconds.

D’Iorio later defended her handling of the call to police Lt. James Raso, saying the caller’s tone led her to believe his issue was not an emergency, according to a memo Raso sent to acting Police Chief James Fitzpatrick advising him of the incident.

D’Iorio similarly handled another call from a woman attempting to report a child wandering around a dollar store looking for his mother Nov. 26, a recording shows.

“Do you speak Spanish?” the caller begins.

“No. I speak English,” D’Iorio responded.

“OK. I saw a little boy in a dollar store. 700 Essex St. Missing,” the caller said.

Confusion and miscommunication, brought on by the language barrier, abounds for nearly two minutes as D’Iorio asks for details, but it’s clear the woman is reporting a child searching for his mother and is asking D’Iorio to send an officer.

The last exchange between the two occurs at one minute and 50 seconds into the call, when D’Iorio tells the woman, “So what are you telling me? I don’t understand.” 

Apparently exasperated, the woman hangs up.

Ike Gabriel, the president of the union that represents D’Iorio, said she eventually dispatched a police officer to the store. Chief Fitzpatrick said she did not.

Most recently, on July 16, D’Iorio responded to a man asking for an officer to respond to a vehicle accident. She rejected his request and advised the man to exchange information with the other driver.

Gabriel said the caller reported there were no injuries and minor damage, so he said D’Iorio followed policy in not dispatching an officer. Fitzpatrick said the policy requires that a police car should be dispatched for every accident call, although Gabriel said the policy was changed to require the response after the July 16 accident.

‘Rude, irresponsible and lazy’

In these three instances and others dating to Feb. 8, 2013, Lt. Raso sent D’Iorio a series of memos scolding her for a pattern of what he said is abrupt, rude, irresponsible and lazy responses to callers seeking help in emergencies.

“Call taker D’Iorio made no effort to overcome the language barrier or to take steps to see if anyone else was available to handle the call,” Raso said in a memo to Chief Fitzpatrick on Dec. 12, about how she handled the Nov. 29 call from the man whose emergency was never determined. 

“We have no idea why this caller was seeking assistance and because of the lack of effort by call taker D’Iorio, we will never know if he was reporting a violent crime, a need for medical assistance or some other reason. The handling of this call was not only unprofessional and unacceptable, it was irresponsible and lazy.”

About the Nov. 26 call, Raso said in a memo to Fitzpatrick that “it is extremely clear that despite the language barrier that the caller is reporting a lost child at 700 Essex Street. For no apparent reason, call taker D’Iorio becomes upset and agitated with the caller and raises her voice with the caller to an unacceptable level. Her handling of the call, as well as her attitude, tone and demeanor, was both unprofessional and unacceptable.”

D’Orio’s handling of the calls came to Raso’s attention during a routine and random review of 911 recordings, Fitzpatrick said. 

On July 20, Fitzpatrick sent a memo to D’Iorio telling her that her failure to send a police officer to the vehicle accident four days earlier “deprived the caller of proper public safety assistance.”

Fitzpatrick put D’Iorio on paid leave and said he would seek to fire her as a call taker, a job she has held since 2007. Her salary this year is $38,414.

The contract that her union, Local 3 of the Service Employees International Union, has with the city allows employees facing discipline to request a hearing, which in this case is heard by the chief. Fitzpatrick held the hearing July 23 and has not yet issued a decision. D’Iorio can appeal his decision to city Personnel Director Frank Bonet, who would forward a recommendation to Mayor Rivera. She could appeal Rivera’s decision to binding arbitration.

Three of every four of Lawrence’s 76,870 residents are Latino, making it one of the most Latino cities in the United States, according to the U.S. Census. Three of every four residents speak a language other than English at home, according to the Census. Thirty-eight percent of city residents told the Census they speak English less than “very well.”

Fitzpatrick said D’Iorio already has been disciplined for mishandling calls, but would not elaborate.

Attempts to reach D’Iorio for comment on this story were unsuccessful.