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Wed. Oct 23, 2002

Tipping Over the Tip Line

Tipping Over the Tip Line – There have been some ruminations about when and whether the FBI should take the lead on the sniper investigation. Let’s think real hard about that.

I’m sure the FBI is very involved in the investigation on many levels, but let’s talk about the Tip Line, the 800 number that is manned by FBI personnel. According to the Washington Post, the operation of that Tip Line may have actually caused more shootings, by making the sniper angrier: "The letter listed half a dozen calls that had been ’ignored’ by operators answering phones at the command center in Rockville, the Montgomery County police station and the FBI. It even named some of the people who had taken his calls. They had hung up, the letter stated; that was ’incompetent.’ ’Five people had to die’ because of it, the letter said…"

Now, I don’t want to lend credence to an obvious monster, but I think we have to take him at his word, for lack of any other alternative. He says he’s been trying to make contact, has been hung up on repeatedly at the Tip Line, and as a result sent his message another way; with another bullet.

And it sounds believable to me: "...an FBI trainee who answered the phone did not recognize the call for what it was and cut the conversation short, the official said. ’The individual taking the call did not understand the importance of what was happening,’ the law enforcement official said. ’She pretty much blew him off.’ "

Someone answering the Tip Line did not understand the importance of what was happening. Perhaps they thought they were taking pizza orders, or telemarketing, or anything other than dealing with information that might save lives. Perhaps the FBI personnel in charge of the Tip Line didn’t tell the individual phone workers that it was possible, in fact, likely, that the sniper himself would call. As a result, "She pretty much blew him off."

Frankly, such incompetence at such a basic level is staggering to me, even if it only happened once, nevermind five times. Now, we’ve all had someone at some ”customer service” or ”tech support” number either blow us off, or simply hang up on us. It makes you angry. Luckily, 99.99999999% of us just sit and steam, take our business elsewhere, or some other non-violent response.

Not the sniper. And everyone answering a phone on that Tip Line should have known that. It’s not like they didn’t get clear clues: "One official described the caller as ’extremely angry.’ The caller, he said, used such phrases as ’Just shut up and listen,’ or ’Hear me out,’ or ’I am God,’ or ’I’m in charge.’ "

The response he got must have been the equivalent of, ”I’m sorry, Mr. Sniper, but I don’t have to take such abuse as a trainee of the FBI, and you’ll just have to call back when you’ve calmed down a bit. You are not God, and when it comes to this phone, I’m in charge.”

Click [pause] Bang.