Fired Arlington Police Dispatcher May Get Job Back

State Rep. Phil King says firing was unreasonable

A 911 dispatcher should get her job back although she violated city policies the night an Arlington police officer was fatally shot., according to an arbitrator's ruling.

State Rep. Phil King, who's an attorney, found that Arlington's firing of dispatcher Joan Ware was not reasonable.

In an October press conference, Arlington Police Association President Randle Meadows said, "Policy manuals are rife with misspellings, inconsistencies and vague direction and terminology." He went on to say, “If you're going to terminate people on lack of judgment, then you need to train people on what the proper judgment is."

The Arlington City Attorney's Office said Tuesday it's reviewing the decision.

Officer Jillian Michelle Smith was shot in the head while taking a domestic assault report at an apartment nearly a year ago. The man also killed his ex-girlfriend before killing himself.

The city fired Ware in April after an internal investigation found that she didn't use appropriate judgment that night.

NBC 5's Justin Hinton contributed to this report.

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