Since Zina Linnik was abducted and killed four years ago, the Tacoma Police Department has made “significant improvements” in its protocols for child abduction cases, an outside investigator has found.
And once the department adopts a new Child Abduction Response Team concept, the department “will have a comprehensive child recovery strategy” in place, consultant Mark S. Simpson wrote.
“The current policies and procedures related to child abductions” developed since the 2007 kidnapping “represent a truly significant improvement,” he wrote. “However, as written, they are insufficient to optimize a rapid, targeted response to the event of a child abduction.”
The city released those and other findings Tuesday as part of Simpson’s 36-page “case study” analyzing the Police Department’s handling of the Zina case.
The 12-year-old was abducted from her Hilltop neighborhood July 4, 2007. She later was found dead.
Chief Don Ramsdell called Simpson’s report “thorough and fair,” adding that his department already has made several improvements.
Simpson, a retired Arlington, Texas, police sergeant-turned consultant who specializes in child abduction cases, conducted multiple interviews of officers and examined case records.
In all, the review cost the city $18,800.
“This review does reinforce my belief that the police department did an excellent job in tracking down Zina Linnik’s murderer,” Mayor Marilyn Strickland said.
When Strickland called for the review in May, amid public controversy, she said no issue would be off the table. But Simpson largely focused his review on department policies and investigative techniques.
The review did not examine whether the department correctly sought to investigate or discipline officers in regards to misleading public statements about the department’s delays in issuing an Amber Alert.
The council approved hiring Simpson after The News Tribune reported new details about why the Amber Alert for Linnik was delayed.
Court records showed police spokesman Mark Fulghum, the only officer then authorized to activate an Amber Alert, fell back to sleep instead of issuing the alert as requested during a 4 a.m. phone call to his home.
In the months that followed, neither Fulghum nor Ramsdell publicly divulged those details when asked what caused the delay.
Simpson’s review found the alert should have been issued when Fulghum initially received the call.
“Unfortunately, an Amber Alert issued at that time would most likely not have saved Zina Linnik’s life,” he added.
Simpson agreed with five areas of improvements identified by the department, and supported the department’s ongoing efforts to develop a “Child Abduction Response Team.”
Tyler Firkins, a lawyer representing the Linnik family, said Tuesday he has not yet received a copy of the review and declined comment.
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