You do solemnly swear that the testimony you may give in the cause now pending before this court shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

I do.

And if you would please state and spell your name for the record.

My name is Sharyn, S-h-a-r-y-n, last name Gilbert, G-i-l-b-e-r-t.

DIRECT-EXAMINATION BY MR. KELLY:

Good afternoon, Ms. Gilbert.

Good afternoon.

Are you currently employed?

Yes, I am.

And by whom?

City of Los Angeles, the police department.

And in what capacity does the police department employ you?

I'm employed as a police service representative which is a 911 dispatcher.

And for how many years have you been doing that?

Ten years.

Okay. And basically what are your duties and responsibilities as a 911 dispatcher?

To take calls from 911 and non-emergency calls, to dispatch calls to police officers and handle their service requests.

And were you acting in this capacity for the police department on New Year's Eve, 1988, going into the morning of New Year's Day, 1989?

Yes, I was.

And do you recall what your tour of duty was those days?

That night I was working as a primary dispatcher which -- taking calls on 911 only.

Okay. And could you tell me where you were physically working in the building at that point when you were working as a primary dispatcher?

I was working on console 54. Console -- our consoles have numbers, and primary console 54.

Okay. Would it be fair to say there are a number of consoles next to each other --

Yes, there are.

-- lined up in the office?

When you talk about a console, are there different pieces of equipment that go along with the console when you're sitting at it?

Yes, it is. It's our Positron phone system which is to the left and that's where our calls come in. It has a dial phone, dial pad. Then we have two screens, a working screen and a status screen. And to my right is what we call Positron, where we can automatically transfer to the fire department and the highway patrol.

Okay. Do you have a keyboard also?

Yes, I do.

And what is that used for?

That's to create incidents for calls that we have to dispatch on it.

And that shows up on your screen as you create it?

Yes, it does.

And this is dispatched if necessary also?

Yes, it is.

And you also have head phones that you use?

Yes, I have a personalized head set.

Okay. And how are you plugged into your console?

There's plugs on either side of my console and my individual head set plugs right in to that and I log on with my assigned operator number onto the phone system.

Okay. What happens when a 911 call comes into you at your console?

It automatically, the call, when I say "drops in," my line is always open to receive the next available call, and when I get a call on the 911 console I get an address and phone number on my status screen, which is the screen to my left, and also on my phone pad to my left.

Okay. And you indicated also that you use your keyboard to create incident records?

Yes, I do, off of that information.

And how do you create an incident report via the phone line, what is that based upon?

It's based upon the address and phone number that -- that I automatically receive and I can -- it's computerized. It will -- our cache system will automatically pick it up and type it into my incident. All I have to do is type an asterisk, phone number and address. The computer will automatically transfer that information to my working screen to start an incident.

Is that just based on your perceptions and what you hear coming in on that 911 call?

Yes, well, we have policy and procedure that we follow on how to handle calls that we receive on 911.

Okay. And I draw your attention to early morning January 1, 1989. Now, you were working the, I think you indicated console 54, at that time?

Yes.

Do you recall receiving a 911 call at approximately 3:58 a.m.?

Yes, I did.

And did your computer screen and console that you just described to us indicate where that call came from?

Yes, it automatically lit up from 360 North Rockingham and the phone number to that residence.

Okay. And can you tell the ladies and gentlemen of the jury what, if anything, you first heard when that call came in?

When the call first dropped in, I didn't hear anything. It was considered to me an open line.

Okay. And did you take any action at this point when it was just an open line and you heard nothing?

Yes, I made it an "unknown trouble." The policy and procedure for the police department, when somebody dials 911, you have to send on it. I made the incident type 900, which is "unknown trouble."

Okay. And when you received -- after it was initially unknown trouble, did you continue listening to that line?

Yes, I left the line open, and during that -- that few seconds, it seemed like just a few seconds to me, might be a minute to you, but it's just a few seconds, I heard what I indicated or detected as a slap and I heard a woman screaming.

Okay. And when you say you heard what sounded like a slap, would you be able to describe that to me?

It was like (indicating hitting hands.)

Just like flesh on flesh?

Yes.

And once you heard that woman screaming and flesh on flesh, what, if any, further action did you take at that point?

I object. That misstates what she said. I thought she heard flesh on flesh and a woman screaming. I want to make sure the record is clear.

Sustained.

(BY MR. KELLY) Okay. Could you repeat the sequence on which you heard things on this 911 call.

Asked and answered.

Sustained.

(BY MR. KELLY) What, if any, action did you take next after hearing these things you heard over the 911 call?

At that time I already had my incident created to dispatch on it and I had selected the bureau radio channels, I had a radio panel also, I had already selected the bureau radio panels to dispatch the "unknown trouble" when I heard the hit and the female screaming. Then I went back immediately and changed my incident type from 900, which is "unknown trouble," to a 930W, which is a "screaming woman." And I also indicated in my comments -- I had to justify why I changed the incident typing. The comments I put in there, female being beaten at location, that it was heard over the phone, so the officer would know what he was responding to.

And is this something you actually typed and memorialized on your computer?

Yes, I did. It's indicated in my incident.

Okay.

I'd ask this to be marked, I believe it's Exhibit 2.

If we could put that up on the Elmo, please. It's also very fine print there.

(BY MR. KELLY) Now, looking at that, you indicated when you first had unknown trouble, there was some sort of call priority assigned to that, was there not?

Yes. That's -- to your right, where you see C/P, that stands for code and priority.

Can you focus on that, upper right-hand corner.

(BY MR. KELLY) Is that the right section, right where we're in right now?

Yes, it would be to your right where you see RD813. That tells me the car call is from West LA, and that's a reporting district, and then CP is code and priority. That's -- and for this type of incident type, that's the proper code and priority for that type of call, which requires immediate police response.

Was that the priority assigned to it when you had the unknown trouble on the line?

Yes, it was.

Initially?

Yes, unknown trouble is the same.

Okay. And was that changed at all after you heard -- when you indicated that you had heard --

No.

Okay. Was there any additional transmitting done as a result of that?

From the unknown trouble?

Yeah.

No, because I did not have a chance to dispatch it as an "unknown trouble" because before I could dispatch it I heard the hit and I heard the female screaming so I immediately went back and updated it and dispatched it according to the "screaming woman."

If you see in the -- my example that I have here, if you can raise it up to that, at the bottom incident where my comments say "female being beaten at the location, could be heard over the phone," you'll see it says updated, and it gives you another incident number, my serial number on over, so it shows I updated incident 1387.

Okay.

Which is the "screaming woman" to add the comments.

Was that call tape recorded?

Yes, they all are.

Okay. And they are done in the normal course --

Yes.

-- of the LAPD business and the 911 calls?

Have you had occasion since then to listen to this particular call that you monitored?

Yes, I did awhile ago.

Okay. And in listening to it, did it fairly accurately represent what you had heard that morning on the call on 911?

Your Honor, I'm going to object and move to strike as nonresponsive to that question.

It may remain.

Can we put on No. 1 at this point? This is Exhibit 1.

(BY MR. KELLY) Ms. Gilbert, at the beginning of that tape, first of all, it sounded like a female screaming. Sound like a voice you heard over your 911 line?

Yes.

Objection, leading, tape speaks for itself.

Overruled.

I move to strike his characterization.

Overruled.

(BY MR. KELLY) Then there was a reference to male black with a description of height, weight and talk of revolver. Was that all related to the call you received?

No, it wasn't.

Could you explain why that appears on that tape?

Because I had already selected frequency to broadcast my call. I had to wait for my turn to get the air, so someone else was broadcasting something to another division and you heard it.

And then what happened after that other broadcast went out through the other division?

Objection, vague.

Overruled.

Then I got my turn to get the air.

(BY MR. KELLY) And were you able to speak to anybody on the other end of that line when you received that 911 call?

No, I wasn't.

I have no further questions.