Last week, new details in the Brittany Zimmermann case were revealed after the Wisconsin State Journal obtained long-sealed search warrants. The warrants contained statements describing audible screams and evidence of struggle when Zimmermann called 911 on her cell phone in April.
The ongoing investigation continues to face increasing amounts of scrutiny as evidence regarding the case is released. This most recent incident is not unique, either, as the timing behind the release of these seals proves nothing more than questionable. While these warrants add details to the case, they fail to advance the investigation in any way at this point.
For months the search warrants remained sealed at the continued request of Madison police who didn't want to compromise the investigation, even amidst requests by the Zimmermann family to release the contents of the call to the public. However, the seals expired last week with no attempts to reseal them by the Madison Police Department. According to MPD Captain Mary Schauf, the evidence was not resealed because they aren't going to have any long term effect on where [they] were going in the case."" As very few positive breakthroughs have been reported since the seal, would these warrants really have compromised anything significant in the case other than the center's inability to follow procedure?
The fact that these details were released at this point only increases skepticism regarding the competence of the public officials handling this case, who appear to have sealed these documents simply to cover their failure. Knowing this, to what extent can public officials, such as the MPD, the 911 Center, and Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk be trusted? Releasing the details at this point does nothing to make Madison residents feel safer, and disrespects the Zimmermann family by releasing details they deserved to know months ago.
If these recent events show anything, it's that the 911 center and the MPD have lost touch with public sentiment. All we have now is a posthumous tape of a girl screaming. Any credibility they had in claiming that the contents might compromise the details of the investigation went out the window when they passively allow the tape to be released four months after its contents would have proven valuable.
If the officials behind this case and the supposed peacekeepers behind Madison want to garner more public support, they need to prove that they actually care about confronting internal issues head-on rather than simply covering them up.
