DPD Tapes and a 6 Minute Discrepancy

[Dan O'meara]

Dan O'Meara:

As promised, I did the best I could in terms of answering the points you made in the OP over the weekend, and hope my answers are of some help to you in resolving your queries.

Before I go any further, I'd offer a few preliminary observations to give the matter some context:

(1) The dispatcher was not required to note the time after every transmission – it would have been very useful to us, but it didn’t happen in quite a number cases, particularly when there was heavy radio traffic
(2) Using transcripts alone to determine when things happened is fraught with danger. I did some study many years ago on the number of actual radio transmissions on the recordings, compared with those transcribed on probably the best publicly-available “verbatim” transcript of channel 1, and while I cannot now recall the details, I do remember that the transcript was woefully incomplete. While others may disagree, I honestly believe that listening to the actual recordings is the only way to get an accurate picture of what was going on, and how the messages between the dispatchers and the officers on the ground relate to one another in context.
(3) It is worth remembering that both DPD radio channels were voice-activated, so the recording devices did not record continuously
 
Now, to deal with the "5-8 minute" gap, and the “nine minute section of radio silence on Channel 2” mentioned in the OP, I have listened to the most complete copy of the DPD radio recordings that I have (which were obtained from NARA some years ago), and I have found the following:

The two radio channels were in sync at 12:45, when the “Attention all squads, attention all squads. The suspect in the shooting at Elm and Houston …” notification was broadcast simultaneously on both channels.
 
On Channel 1, the Dispatcher (Hulse or Jackson) tells 241 (Officer Hollingsworth) to collect some blood from the Blood Bank on Commerce Street and take it to Parkland Hospital. 241 apparently responds immediately, telling the dispatcher that he is “en route”. 18 transmissions/exchanges later, the dispatcher announces the time as 1:04 – this puts the call probably somewhere between 1:03 and 1:04, probably closer to the latter. Seven radio exchanges later, 241 reports that he is at the Blood Bank, and 6 transmissions later, Captain Souter advises the dispatcher that “241’s got it and gone” – namely, he has collected the blood, and has headed for Parkland.

Meanwhile, on Channel 2, the request from Patrolman Chism for a squad to go to the Blood Bank and pick up some blood and take it to Parkland occurs three transmissions after the dispatcher (Henslee) announced the time as being 1 PM, and before he announced the time as 1:03.
 
It was also noted in the OP that immediately after the “Blood Bank” message on Channel 2, Captain Souter asked for a status report on the well-being of the President and Governor Connolly. My interpretation of the recordings shows that the reply to Capt. Souter followed in the very next transmission, and also occurred before the time announcement of 1:03 on Channel 2.

In summary, then, I don't find any evidence of an unexplainable gap in the recordings, or a nine minute period of radio silence, in the 1 PM to 1:05 PM time frame on either channel.

As previously noted, my time is at a premium right now, and much of my old research is locked away (for reasons of space, primarily), but I hope that what I've posted here is on some value/help to you in your work.

Chris Scally.

Thanks so much for taking the time to look into it Chris.
It was always a long-shot of sorts as such a large discrepancy so soon after both Channels were in synch with each other and with "real time" would hint at a deliberate attempt to alter the tapes.
Although there are vague hints something like this may have happened there is nothing definitive.

Back to the drawing board.
But thanks again.

[Chris Scally]

Thanks, Dan - you are very welcome, and I'll keep an eye on this thread going forward!

[Tom Scully]

Thanks so much for taking the time to look into it Chris.
It was always a long-shot of sorts as such a large discrepancy so soon after both Channels were in synch with each other and with "real time" would hint at a deliberate attempt to alter the tapes.
Although there are vague hints something like this may have happened there is nothing definitive.

Back to the drawing board.
But thanks again.

Excerpt from Billy Joe Lord's March, 1977 letter to President Carter. "One of the parties" is Henry Hurt.

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=9963#relPageId=269


Dan, as recently as in 1986 when Henry Hurt finally published his book, it appears "team Bush" (AKA the Establishment, CIA, PTB...) encouraged belief there was fraud, obstruction of justice associated with the tapes, unless Henry Hurt was not the meticulous sleuth supported since 1976 with generously financed, professional research and wide contacts.
https://www.jfkassassinationforum.com/index.php/topic,2509.msg111782.html#new

... The opposite of what would be expected of these "stalwarts", especially considering
Bush's eulogy at Gerry Ford's funeral.

https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/02/washington/02cnd-ford-bush.html
"...And the conspiracy theorists can say what they will, but the Warren Commission report will always have the final definitive say on this tragic matter. Why? Because Jerry Ford put his name on it and Jerry Ford’s word was always good."

Is it random coincidence Bush, through his support of Henry Hurt which is obvious in Billy Joe Lord's letter to Jimmy Carter, that what Bush and Henry Hurt conveyed to the American people was as contradictory and nonsensical as what Garrison did? Isn't that the SOP of "outfits" like the CIA ... one big, "76 year old, former DCI takes fatal, pitch-black evening canoe ride after working hard all day, from dock adjacent to his home"?
http://www.pythiapress.com/wartales/colby.htm

Henry Hurt's son... a "career" of disinfo :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Hurt
Charles Hurt (born 1971)[1] is an American journalist and political commentator. He is currently the opinion editor of The Washington Times,[2][3][4] Fox News contributor,[5] Breitbart News contributor, and a Drudge Report editor.[2]
...
Hurt was The New York Post's D.C. Bureau Chief and news columnist covering the White House for five years.

From 2003 to 2007, Hurt covered the U.S. Congress as a reporter for The Washington Times[6] before leaving to join The New York Post. In 2011, he rejoined The Washington Times as a political columnist.[3] In December 2016, Hurt was named the opinion editor.[4]

National Review editor Rich Lowry described Hurt as, "an early adopter of Trumpite populism."[7] Hurt has written numerous opinion pieces lauding Trump since the 2016 election.[8]

Personal life
Hurt is a native of Chatham, Virginia.[9] Hurt is the son of investigative journalist and former Reader's Digest editor Henry C. Hurt and his wife, Margaret Nolting Williams.[10][11]

[Dan O'meara]

Tom - you make my brain hurt.

After going through the leads you've posted, the only thing I can find that is relevant to this thread (which is not to say it isn't fascinating stuff) is that it is suggested the order given to Tippit to move into Oak Cliff may have actually been overdubbed on the tapes and then put into the transcripts of the tapes.
There is also a clear discrepancy between the first DPD transcripts given to the WC and the McAdams transcripts concerning Nelson trying to call in just after the 12:47 time call.
It seems possible the tapes have been altered although I can't see anything definitive. Whatever the case, I'm not seeing anything that might account for a 5 -6 minute discrepancy between "police time" and "real time" within 40 minutes of the synchronisation outlined in the OP.

[The Lord stuff really is fascinating but I'm nowhere near that level of detail into the case. I've only recently just got out of Dealey Plaza in terms of trying to understand what's going on.]

[Tom Scully]

Tom - you make my brain hurt.

After going through the leads you've posted, the only thing I can find that is relevant to this thread (which is not to say it isn't fascinating stuff) is that it is suggested the order given to Tippit to move into Oak Cliff may have actually been overdubbed on the tapes and then put into the transcripts of the tapes.
There is also a clear discrepancy between the first DPD transcripts given to the WC and the McAdams transcripts concerning Nelson trying to call in just after the 12:47 time call.
It seems possible the tapes have been altered although I can't see anything definitive. Whatever the case, I'm not seeing anything that might account for a 5 -6 minute discrepancy between "police time" and "real time" within 40 minutes of the synchronisation outlined in the OP.

[The Lord stuff really is fascinating but I'm nowhere near that level of detail into the case. I've only recently just got out of Dealey Plaza in terms of trying to understand what's going on.]

Dan, I began my posts on this page intending to show you that Henry Hurt backing Sylvia Meagher's presentation that supports the tapes being altered and untrustworthy must have had an ulterior motive. Instead, what I've found and posted here, today, ...author Henry Hurt would never mistakenly do what I present him doing about the 12:45 dubbing question, so he must have done this on purpose.:
https://www.jfkassassinationforum.com/index.php/topic,2509.msg111782.html#new

..strikes me as even more troubling. It seems as if the question of the reliability of the tapes and the transcripts based on them, is just one small slice of an establishment backed psy-op I think Garrison also participated in, just following orders, to reduce all JFK Assassination related controversies to Chaos... a never ending disinfo stream.

[Dan O'meara]

Dan, I began my posts on this page intending to show you that Henry Hurt backing Sylvia Meagher's presentation that supports the tapes being altered and untrustworthy must have had an ulterior motive. Instead, what I've found and posted here, today, ...author Henry Hurt would never mistakenly do what I present him doing about the 12:45 dubbing question, so he must have done this on purpose.:
https://www.jfkassassinationforum.com/index.php/topic,2509.msg111782.html#new

..strikes me as even more troubling. It seems as if the question of the reliability of the tapes and the transcripts based on them, is just one small slice of an establishment backed psy-op I think Garrison also participated in, just following orders, to reduce all JFK Assassination related controversies to Chaos... a never ending disinfo stream.

I've been at this about a year now and one thing I have noticed is that there is hardly a single eye-witness testimony or piece of evidence that isn't contradicted and/or dubious in some way. It's a really striking aspect of this case.
The truth should be a fairly straight-forward matter in my opinion, even taking into account witness unreliability or the incompetence/corruption that features in the investigation.
But this is something else and is at the heart of why so many people can hold so many different views of what happened.
I find it difficult not to draw the conclusion that the Chaos you mention signifies a deliberate (and very successful) attempt to obscure the truth of what really happened.
I'm still in the process of trying to pick my own path through this labyrinth, all I can do is follow my own interpretation of things but that may end up having little to do with the actual truth of the matter.

[Tom Scully]

I've been at this about a year now and one thing I have noticed is that there is hardly a single eye-witness testimony or piece of evidence that isn't contradicted and/or dubious in some way. It's a really striking aspect of this case.
The truth should be a fairly straight-forward matter in my opinion, even taking into account witness unreliability or the incompetence/corruption that features in the investigation.
But this is something else and is at the heart of why so many people can hold so many different views of what happened.
I find it difficult not to draw the conclusion that the Chaos you mention signifies a deliberate (and very successful) attempt to obscure the truth of what really happened.
I'm still in the process of trying to pick my own path through this labyrinth, all I can do is follow my own interpretation of things but that may end up having little to do with the actual truth of the matter.

I've "only" been actively seeking to make sense of this for thirteen years, so I have more in common with you than the five and six decade veterans. I was a middle school student in 1963 and the assassinations of MLK and RFK five years later influenced me to avert my gaze, Vietnam, Kent State, Watergate and a couple of years of an unelected POTUS who picked his own vice president made me cynical. I didn't view "JFK, the movie" until 2013.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/03/30/who-killed-martin-luther-king-jr-his-family-believes-james-earl-ray-was-framed/
March 30, 2018
...“It pains my heart,” said Bernice King, 55, the youngest of Martin Luther King’s four children and the executive director of the King Center in Atlanta, “that James Earl Ray had to spend his life in prison paying for things he didn’t do.”..


Coretta Scott King and her daughter, Bernice, then 5 years old, at the April 9, 1968, funeral of  Martin Luther King Jr. in Atlanta.

...Andrew Young, the former U.N. ambassador and Atlanta mayor who was at the Lorraine Motel with King when he was shot there, agrees. “I would not accept the fact that James Earl Ray pulled the trigger, and that’s all that matters,” said Young, who noted that King’s death came after the killings of John F. Kennedy and Malcolm X and just months before the slaying of Robert F. Kennedy.

"rope-a-dope" is used to describe strategies in which one contender draws non-injuring offensive punches to let the opponent tire themselves out.

https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/02/washington/02cnd-ford-ghwb.html
Jan. 2, 2007
Following is the transcript of the eulogy for former President Gerald R. Ford delivered today by former President George H.W. Bush in Washington, as recorded by The New York Times.

 And the conspiracy theorists can say what they will, but the Warren Commission report will always have the final definitive say on this tragic matter. Why? Because Jerry Ford put his name on it and Jerry Ford’s word was always good.

It's been hard to argue with this.:
http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/G%20Disk/Garrison%20Jim/Garrison%20Jim%206-78ff/Item%2028.pdf


The WC Report and the news media and a number of book authors made Oswald out to be the lone assassin and DeMohrenschildt as his best friend in Dallas.