Records released by the Dane County Public Communications Center last week revealed a wealth of new information relating to the murder of University of Wisconsin junior Brittany Zimmermann last April. The documents show the 911 Center, in a 54-second phone call from the victim’s cell phone, was privy to an emergency situation that merited an immediate response.

The documents revealed the center located the address of the incident 24 seconds into the call. However, police were not dispatched to the scene until 48 minutes later, when Zimmermann’s fianc� discovered her body. Moreover, the dispatcher did not document the call, as she was required to do.

These facts bring into question the response of the dispatcher — who was found not to have intentionally ignored signs of an obvious emergency by an internal report — as well as the 911 Center’s management.

A judge will decide today whether to release the recording of Zimmermann’s 911 call. We believe he should. The internal investigation has presented the public with a narrative that is, at best, hard to believe. How could a call that involved screams and sounds of a struggle be treated as anything but an emergency? If the location of the crime was available within seconds, why did it take nearly an hour to notify the police?

The matter at hand is delicate, and the media should treat this material with the sensitivity it requires. We would not support the release of such material in every case. However, in this case, county leaders must be held accountable for their mistakes.

The Zimmermann case has been a painful experience for the UW community, and while closure will only be attained with the culprit’s capture and conviction, the least we can do at this point is hold our public officials to the highest levels of scrutiny to make sure such a fiasco never occurs again.