In regards to the fatal shooting in Whitfield County this past Thursday, my condolences to the families involved, and prayers sent your way. I do have a few things I would like to question the Whitfield County Sheriff's Office and the Communications Center.

Let me say that I am a former police dispatcher. I have always been on the police department's side over 99% of the time. However, today, I can't say that. There was a call made by the victim Mindy Bullard, to 9-1-1, around 4:35 p.m. Thursday evening, to be on the lookout for Hartline.

Here's what doesn't make sense: Peggy Vick, director of Murray County 9-1-1 said that, "It happens daily" with cell calls going to Murray County and other surrounding areas. My question is, if this is a "daily" occurrence, why hasn't the Whitfield County government and other surrounding agencies taken corrective action to fix this issue? Furthermore, now, Sheriff Scott Chitwood has now released a statement saying that they were on the lookout for Hartline.

Okay, if your officers were on the lookout for Hartline, Sheriff Chitwood, you wouldn't have had a 10 minute response time to the scene of the crime. Within those 10 minutes, 3 lives were lost including the suspect, and children and family members were scarred for life. If the deputies were doing extra patrol in the area, as you say they were, a 10 minute response time would not have incurred, because as those of you who are in or a part of law enforcement know, if you are in your district and you are running hot to a call, it's not going to take 10 minutes to get there. In average, 3-5 minutes is an efficient response time to an emergency call. Especially if you were doing extra patrol in the area.

I would like to hear the tape that the dispatchers were on when the call was dispatched. The tapes that were released when the 9-1-1 calls came in were ridiculous. The questions that were asked by the dispatchers/call takers were unnecessary and time consuming. Especially after you clearly heard shots fired on the tape. It is apparent, that effective communication was not the case in this horrific incident. In 10 minutes, several lives were changed forever. What would have happened if the police had gotten there sooner? I guess we will never know...

Jillian Mitchell
Chattanooga