Chester County, PA, Manhunt/Escaped Prisoner D. Cavalcante

Tuesday, August 6 | 1:30 - 2:30 p.m.
BJ Meadowcroft, Deputy Director for Emergency Communications, Bill Messerschmidt, Director of Emergency Services, Justin McClure, Deputy Director of Fire Services, all of County of Chester Pennsylvania

On August 31, 2023, a Brazilian national wanted for murder in his home country and convicted days before in Chester County, Pennsylvania, for the separate stabbing death of his girlfriend, scaled a wall, slipped through razor wire and escaped from the Chester County Prison.

The escape set off a massive manhunt by local, state and federal law enforcement that continued in the woods and fields outside Philadelphia until his capture on Sept. 13.

Chester County first responders on Tuesday discussed the communications challenges they faced during the manhunt funneling information to law enforcement in the field on the one hand and keeping the public informed on the other.

BJ Meadowcroft, deputy director for emergency communications, said emergency communications center (ECC) dispatching procedures were streamlined in response to the mass of calls and need to speed response. Call takers short-circuited normal procedures by giving supervisors addresses and forwarding that intelligence about the escapee's whereabouts to law enforcement, who were laying perimeters and conducting searches. Shaving seconds off the time between reception of intelligence and dispatching field responders could make a difference as Cavalcante narrowly avoided detection by searchers in the thick brush of the rural Pennsylvania countryside.

In a command post at a nearby firehouse, a Pennsylvania State Police public safety telecommunicator was paired with a Chester County telecommunicator. This allowed each telecommunicator to listen in on calls and transmit relevant information to their respective forces as information came through, Meadowcroft said.

As the search became national and international news, the tips took a turn toward the exotic. A self-professed Canadian psychic informed the ECC that they knew where Cavalcante was hiding. The surreal had to be separated from the real tips. Police thought Cavalcante was in the south of the county near the prison. But a report of stolen boots turned out to be a clue that he had moved to the northern end of the jurisdiction.

Meanwhile, Chester County sent 15 reverse 9-1-1 messages alerting the public to increased police presence and to lock the doors of their homes and cars.

The upshot of these initiatives was about 60,000 new registrations for reverse 9-1-1, improved relationships with state and federal officials, and lessons learned such as the need to quickly make plans for transitioning from a mobile command post to a hardened command post in case the emergency extends beyond several hours.

By Rick Goldstein

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