CLAIM: Dispatch Log Shows CT State Police Were at Sandy Hook School Hours Before the Shooting

[Keith Johnson]

In a YouTube video, entitled "Sandy Hook 'Evidence of a Drill,'" Political Hillbilly claims that the Call Summary Report from the Connecticut State Police (CSP) (found in Book 2/Doc 00259480) shows numerous CSP vehicles being dispatched and arriving at the Sandy Hook Elementary School (SHES) hours before the shooting. His contention is that these personnel were there early to participate in a pre-scheduled active shooter drill.

To make his case, Political Hillbilly directs viewer’s attention to a 0749 (military for 7:49 a.m.) dispatch and arrival time for CSP Lt. Michael Hofbauer (a first-responder whose statement can be found in Book 6/Document 00025074).



There are two major problems with Political Hillbilly’s assertion:

1.) Although he claims this is an arrival for 12/14/2012 (day of the shooting), there is no supporting documentation to back it up. The Call Summary Report shown in Book 2/Doc 00259480 is not date-specific but rather documents “all CAD [computer assisted dispatch] entries into the system related to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.”


2.) He fails to point out that there is an earlier entry for Lt. Hofbauer on the Call Summary Report, which shows a dispatch and arrival time of 0948 (military for 9:48 a.m.).



This earlier entry is the first documented time for Lt. Hofbauer and fits within the timeframe discussed in his statement (found in Book 6/Doc 0025074) as it relates to his first-response to the SHES shooting on 12/14/2012.



It stands to reason that the 0749 dispatch and arrival time for Lt. Hofbauer was on a subsequent day, though it is unclear what day that is since the Call Summary Report is not date-specific.

Aside from the dispatch times for Lt. Hofbauer, there are many other CSP personnel that show early morning dispatch and arrival times. Some of those times are verifiably for 12/15/2012 (day after the shooting). For example, Gregory Hunter (Car# 0601) shows a dispatch time of 0525 (military for 5:25 a.m.).



In an attached manually created or "freeform" dispatch entry created on 12/15/2012 at 05:33 (military for 5:33 a.m.), Car # 0601 is shown to be enroute from SHES to make a death notification.

 

[occams rusty scissor]

The problem with relying on CAD history is that a lot of it is manually entered, or events that are logged such as "on scene/cleared" times are created when the individual officer presses the 'on scene' remark on their vehicle's data terminal.

Looking at the "earlier" Hofbauer times you've pointed out, you can see the dispatch and arrival times are the same - usually this is because the dispatcher has allocated that job to the patrol callsign after the patrol has already arrived. So there is no apparent "driving time" between the job being given out and the arrival of the officers on scene. It happens quite regularly, however to the conspiracy minded, these nefarious little details may look like a smoking gun - leading to an "OMG he was already there!" scenario.

Just to further illustrate some issues with CAD, you'll also note that his "on scene time" for that particular entry is 1249 minutes (almost 21 hours). Im not sure what time he completed duty that shift, but it's not likely he pulled a 21+ hour shift. Again, often what happens with major incidents with huge amounts of staff and resources at a scene, a patrol may let dispatchers know they're leaving scene, however due to the radio traffic/chaos/human element they're not marked as leaving, so the system leaves them as 'on scene' until it times out. Usually as a safety feature the CAD system will warn the dispatcher that a patrol has been on scene for a long time without contact, but this can be overidden (or ignored). So the CAD running sheet is not always the most reliable for exact timings.


CAD printouts can cause a lot of issue in court as well, where lawyers try to use similar tactics to discredit officers as to timings and such. Pesky lawyers...