The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "dispatchers" ...
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Locked Away
"Locked Away" exposed a troubling fact: Some Ohio children with disabilities are isolated from their peers inside the so-called seclusion rooms – small cells, closets or old offices – as punishment when they misbehave or don’t follow teachers’ directions. But the state has no idea how often vulnerable children are sent to the rooms, nor could state officials say which schools used seclusion for their disabled students. Until reporters began work on “Locked Away,” no one had ever asked. The project, a joint effort by The Columbus Dispatch and StateImpact Ohio, has led to a statewide policy and rules to keep schools from misusing seclusion rooms.
Tags: Education; children; disability; seclusion rooms
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Voter Patrol
The NEWS4 I-Team dug through more than 600 phone and email tips to break three major election stories before, during and immediately after the presidential election. About two weeks before the election, we asked viewers to tell us when they saw problems when they voted. The response was immediate. Our two-man team went through every tip and beat out the AP, the Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun, the Richmond Times-Dispatch and other local stations on the biggest election stories in our area. Our first story revealed absentee ballots sent out in Maryland were missing their second page, which contained the most contested ballot initiatives including legalized gambling, same-sex marriage and the DREAM Act. This story was picked up across the nation and led to statements made by the Maryland Governor and the various interest groups involved in the ballot issues.
Tags: Elections; presidential elections; votes; presidential reporting; ballot issues
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The Columbus Dispatch: Credit Scars
The Dispatch documented the plight of thousands who, through no fault of their own, have been denied the chance to buy a home or a car, take out a loan for college, rent an apartment, land a job, join the Armed Forces, receive medical care or even open a checking account.
Tags: Credit cards; credit reports; checking accounts; banks
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Addressing 911
It all started with a tip from people on the front lines, and quickly unraveled into a story that has sparked much needed oversight of Ingham County's new consolidated 911 center. The center merged two 911 dispatch centers into one back in June of 2012. In October, a group of first responders approached Reporter Ann Emmerich with alarming concerns about problems within the system. They believed at least two deaths could be connected to delayed response times because emergency crews were sent to the wrong address. They also believed county officials were trying to "cover up" the problems. Using the Freedom of Information Act, Ann Emmerich began digging into records from the 911 Dispatch Center. She obtained documented complaints from the Lansing Fire Department, call logs from the dispatch center, and time stamped recordings of 911 calls. Just days after Emmerich made those FOIA requests, Lansing's Mayor announced he would form a task force to investigate concerns with the County's 911 Center. At the time, there was no advisory board in place to oversee the center. Once officials went public with the formation of a task force, the original board that worked to establish the 911 center was brought back together to begin oversight.
Tags: broadcast; 911; FOIA; 911 center
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Your Right to Know
A reporter for the Columbus Dispatch began publishing a blog designed to educate Ohioans about their rights to access public records and meetings. The blog is also used as a bully pulpit to point out government abuses in withholding records from the public and news media.
Tags: blog; open records; Sunshine Laws; FOIA; Freedom of Information Act; public records
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Could Sandy Hill Have Been Saved?
This series looked at why fire-and-rescue workers were unable to save a woman trapped inside her home even though she was on the phone with a dispatcher giving directions to her upstairs bedroom. The reporting found that volunteers who responded that night did not use thermal imaging equipment that could have helped them find the victim, Sandy Hill; that they did not place a ladder at either of the windows in her bedroom; that they were slow to ventilate the house and remove the smoke that killed her; and that they did not question people who had escaped the house about her location. Additional reporting exposed systemic weaknesses in Spotsylvania's fire-and-rescue services, which rely on self-governing volunteer departments and a smaller number of career personnel hired and directed by the county. These weaknesses include a poorly structured chain of command, lack of communication, insufficient training for man volunteers, and a failure to enforce existing regulations due in large part to friction between the career and volunteer units.
Tags: Firefighters; Fire Department; asphyxiation; volunteer; equipment; protocol; Spotsylvania; fire-and-rescue; training; regulation
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"Little Leagues, Big Costs"
This five-day series chronicles the experiences with youth sports of high school and college athletes and coaches. By establishing "baseline data" that has been previously unreported, Dispatch reporters found a "corrupted" sports program overrun with angry parents and practices that cause severe injury to young athletes. Rising costs and financial competitions are added pressures to the industry.
Tags: youth-sports; IRS 990s; NCAA; NCAA Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act; Nexis; Ohio State; Gene Smith; Ohio High School Athletic Association; OHSAA; OSU
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"33 Minutes to 34 Right"
When Continental Flight 1404 crashed during its landing at the Denver International Airport, it took ambulance responses teams 33 minutes to reach the crash site. KMGH-TV's investigation reveals critical problems with Denver's ambulance system and dispatch center, as well as with the city's overall preparedness for emergency response.
Tags: Denver International Airport; Continental Flight 1404; Denver Health Medical Center; plane crash
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Sounding the Alarm
An extra $274,000 was required to fix the problems created by a $37 million upgrade to the Marion County digital radio system. The switch from analog to digital was not as smooth as hoped because firefighters claimed the transmissions were unintelligible.
Tags: dispatcher; 911; emergency call; International Association of Fire Chiefs; radio; walkie talkie; alert
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The Fall of Ohio's Attorney General
While top state officials from Elliot Spitzer to Rod Blagojevich fell from grace in 2008, no one was pushed out the door through dogged reporting by the press -- in this case, The Columbus Dispatch -- quite like Ohio's attorney general, Marc Dann. Information from a variety of sources and examination of voluminous e-mails and documents led to stories detailing sexual harassment and a shockingly unprofessional, party-like atmosphere of high-ranking Dann officials, including ribald festivities at the so-called "Dannimal House," the condo where he lived along with a pair of top aides. The Dispatch also broke stories about other misdeeds ranging from questionable campaign expenditures, shaky hiring practices and suspect purchases, as well as a proposed trip by Dann to a "law enforcement conference" in Turkey with his female scheduler. Although her trip, bankrolled by homeland security money, was nixed, the paper documented how Dann called her (on the taxpayers' dime via satellite phone) more often than his wife. Dann, 45, later admitted an affair with the scheduler, 28.
Tags: misconduct; attorney general; Ohio; Marc Dann; resignation; sexual harassment; campaign finance