On May 11th I was able to attend a
training that was a very difficult topic to discuss and a very moving
experience. A Victim’s Plea: Meeting Expectations is a training provided by the
Denise Amber Lee Foundation. Our
training was presented by Nathan Lee, president of the foundation, and Ryan
Chambers, a public safety instructor.
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| Lt. Haight doing the introduction and talking about the certification proposal |
Nathan Lee is the widower of Denise Amber Lee who
was murdered on January 17, 2008. She
was just 21 years old and a mother of two small children. A random stranger named Michael King
abducted, raped, and murdered Denise.
The most heartbreaking part of the story isn’t that she was a beloved
wife and mother. The most heartbreaking
part is that the 911 system failed Denise.
If it hadn’t, she might still be alive today.
While this training was very emotional, it was also
very professional. There was a balanced
mix of the personal story (as told by her late husband Nathan and as we watched
the story unfold on a network television show) and of the professional aspect
of being a 911 dispatcher and the experiences in public safety as told by
Ryan. The hardest part to watch was at
the very end when we watched a video set to music of photos of Denise, her
husband, and her kids. That really
tugged at your heart strings.
Denise’s father worked for a local police agency, the
same agency that failed her. Denise
fought hard and several witnesses who suspected something was wrong didn’t call
police. At one point Denise even called
911 after getting a hold of her captor’s phone.
Finally a witness called 911 with really solid information. As a dispatcher, and working for a 911 agency
for six months, I would have broadcasted that information the second I had
it. Sadly, it appears the dispatchers working
that day didn’t get along. And they let
their personal tiff affect giving 100% service to their caller. The only opportunity to intercept Denise, who
was tied up in the backseat of her captor’s car, never happened because the
information was never given to the officers that were in the area looking for
any green car that might be a match.
It is very sad to think that Denise could be alive
today if it weren’t for the mistakes made that fateful day. The Denise Amber Lee Foundation has made it
their mission to get education out to dispatchers all across the USA. Several states, including Idaho, do not have
any type of certification for dispatchers.
If you are a hairdresser in Idaho, you are required to be certified. However, you can answer emergency calls and
get help to a person during a crisis without having to hold any type of
certification or without keeping up with any type of continued education. The Idaho
PSAP Standards and Training Committee are currently working with the
legislature to change that. We are
hoping that really soon we will have a certification in place and a requirement
for continued education.
I was really thankful I was able to attend this
training. If you have an opportunity in
your area, please do so. To learn more
about the Denise Amber Lee Foundation, visit their website at: http://deniseamberlee.org/
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