We are so honored
I feel awkward not highlighting the reasons of our trip. Nathan, Mark and Sean were there to learn all they could about 9-1-1 from the experts in the industry. The president of NENA (National Emergency Number Association) expressed a desire to meet in Washington after he met Nathan at CalNENA the 9-1-1 conference in San Diego.
I wish I knew the details and was a fly on the wall at the meetings. I did glean some information but not as much as I'd like. I believe they want Nathan and Mark to lend some help in drafting the legislation to put before Congress for improving 9-1-1. Denise would be so proud knowing that her story and tragedy has helped change laws that will help save lives.
We can't bring her back but we can do all we can to see that others don't have to suffer needlessly because of poor 9-1-1 standards.
The meeting with the Center for Missing and Exploited Children was also a much needed meeting. He helped guide us on how to expose our cause tastefully. He suggested follow up Primetime and Dateline stories. And even getting in touch with Oprah.
I didn't know that John Walsh and his wife lost their home, too, after Adam went missing. We can't blame Denise's tragedy for losing our home. The economy did that. But the loss of work certainly didn't help matters and probably sped the process a long.
The representative from the Center for Missing and Exploited Children helped us greatly with some ideas on how to handle this. We're still so new at this. But! We want to make this change happen and will do what we have to do.
We hear about so many 9-1-1 tragedies from people. Part of our mission statement is to help other families who have experienced loss of a loved one through a 9-1-1 mishap. It would break your heart to read about them all.
I may start posting some of the stories here. I already wrote about poor little Matthew Cantrell and his family. I've yet to write about Olidia Kerr Day's family and her tragic death. I hesitate even to start naming stories because there are so many important ones (they are all important) that I hate to leave any one out!
Yes, maybe later today I'll write about Olidia Kerr Day if I'm up to it. If I do this I'll be continuing to bring awareness to this issue.
The fight (for me at least) is bittersweet. Bitter because it's not easy reading all these stories and putting our pain out there for all to see. Sweet because Denise was simply so sweet and innocent and doing this for her makes it all worthwhile. And who couldn't or wouldn't do this for her? I believe this was the reason she had to go. It's the only reason I can think of.
Much love and peace.
Showing posts with label CalNENA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CalNENA. Show all posts
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Monday, March 2, 2009
Not much news tonight
Things are kind of quiet at home. I suppose that's a good thing. That doesn't mean that there isn't a lot happening. There is.
I'm just so overwhelmed by it I can't post on it all.
It's all good and it all has to do with 9-1-1. Why I feel depressed and frustrated, I don't know.
Maybe it's because with all the excitement about all the possible improvements etc.... I feel.... still lost without Denise.
I still can't stop missing her.
Maybe I feel guilty for the relief I feel that so much is finally happening. It's certainly not happiness I feel. It's more a relief and a certain satisfaction that some of what we've been doing is paying off.
We're moving on without her. We're fighting to expose the problems in certain 9-1-1 centers, and we're fighting to fix those problems. We're trying to reach out to others and their frustrations with the system. We're doing all we can. And it's a lot. It's emotional.
Sadly, it's so much sometimes I think it really takes it's toll on us.
It's a bittersweet feeling. Sweet and sour.
Sweet because, thank goodness, change we now know is coming. And sour because.......... well........... we know why it's sour.
Thank goodness, at least for me, for the babies. They bring the happiness. I find very little in much else.
Michael King, the alleged murderer has so much to answer for. He has no clue as to the grief he's caused this family. He has no clue what he has stolen from us.
John Davenport and Bill Cameron along with others who were on duty that night in the CCSO 9-1-1 center have no clue as to what grief they have caused us. They have no clue. NO CLUE.
Michael King is a low life and though I may not understand I accept that he's enough of a psychopath to be oblivious. But as to the others (John Davenport and Bill Cameron), and those who participated willingly in that convoluted I/A report put out by the sheriff's office? You'd expect better from them. They have no clue as to the additional pain and suffering they've caused our family.
deep breath
Nathan made a statement this morning about how he was naive before Denise was murdered. Heck, I think we were all a bit naive. Even those of us in our fifties. Heck, even maybe Denise's dad who is a veteran police officerand has probably seen just about all you can see.
In someway a major part of all of us died that day.
I want so bad to feel good about what's happening. There is so much that's going to come of this as far as 9-1-1. I hope so much that lives will be saved and the improvements will help minimize these tragedies caused by 9-1-1 mishaps. Michael King killed Denise. We know that. But as you all know the 9-1-1 center clearly screwed up.
The improvements I speak of? They are nothing we've started. They've been in the works. It's apparently a continual process. With technology changing as rapidly as it does, 9-1-1 has a major responsibility to keep up. It's not easy. So, the fight has been out there and it's been on going.
The good news! We have so much support. And now that the guys have come back from CalNENA we have even more support and it's by the hundreds. They were so moved by Denise's story. And now Nathan is in even more demand to speak at other venues.
Denise's tragedy just may be a catalyst to help things move at a faster pace. I hope so. I wouldn't want to wish this on anyone.
I just hate that she had to die for all this to happen. I hate to be so blunt. But... I just wish she didn't have to die.
Sorry to ramble. I'm tired tonight between moving, babies and this. I'm just tired.
Much love and peace.
I'm just so overwhelmed by it I can't post on it all.
It's all good and it all has to do with 9-1-1. Why I feel depressed and frustrated, I don't know.
Maybe it's because with all the excitement about all the possible improvements etc.... I feel.... still lost without Denise.
I still can't stop missing her.
Maybe I feel guilty for the relief I feel that so much is finally happening. It's certainly not happiness I feel. It's more a relief and a certain satisfaction that some of what we've been doing is paying off.
We're moving on without her. We're fighting to expose the problems in certain 9-1-1 centers, and we're fighting to fix those problems. We're trying to reach out to others and their frustrations with the system. We're doing all we can. And it's a lot. It's emotional.
Sadly, it's so much sometimes I think it really takes it's toll on us.
It's a bittersweet feeling. Sweet and sour.
Sweet because, thank goodness, change we now know is coming. And sour because.......... well........... we know why it's sour.
Thank goodness, at least for me, for the babies. They bring the happiness. I find very little in much else.
Michael King, the alleged murderer has so much to answer for. He has no clue as to the grief he's caused this family. He has no clue what he has stolen from us.
John Davenport and Bill Cameron along with others who were on duty that night in the CCSO 9-1-1 center have no clue as to what grief they have caused us. They have no clue. NO CLUE.
Michael King is a low life and though I may not understand I accept that he's enough of a psychopath to be oblivious. But as to the others (John Davenport and Bill Cameron), and those who participated willingly in that convoluted I/A report put out by the sheriff's office? You'd expect better from them. They have no clue as to the additional pain and suffering they've caused our family.
deep breath
Nathan made a statement this morning about how he was naive before Denise was murdered. Heck, I think we were all a bit naive. Even those of us in our fifties. Heck, even maybe Denise's dad who is a veteran police officerand has probably seen just about all you can see.
In someway a major part of all of us died that day.
I want so bad to feel good about what's happening. There is so much that's going to come of this as far as 9-1-1. I hope so much that lives will be saved and the improvements will help minimize these tragedies caused by 9-1-1 mishaps. Michael King killed Denise. We know that. But as you all know the 9-1-1 center clearly screwed up.
The improvements I speak of? They are nothing we've started. They've been in the works. It's apparently a continual process. With technology changing as rapidly as it does, 9-1-1 has a major responsibility to keep up. It's not easy. So, the fight has been out there and it's been on going.
The good news! We have so much support. And now that the guys have come back from CalNENA we have even more support and it's by the hundreds. They were so moved by Denise's story. And now Nathan is in even more demand to speak at other venues.
Denise's tragedy just may be a catalyst to help things move at a faster pace. I hope so. I wouldn't want to wish this on anyone.
I just hate that she had to die for all this to happen. I hate to be so blunt. But... I just wish she didn't have to die.
Sorry to ramble. I'm tired tonight between moving, babies and this. I'm just tired.
Much love and peace.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Nathan Lee welcomed with open arms at California convention
I can't describe how moving it is to be working towards improving our 911 system and helping to save lives. I've never been involved with emergency services. I've volunteered for different things in the past. I've been involved with the community. But this is so different. Maybe it's because we're doing it for Denise.
In today's Sun Herald
Published on: Saturday, February 28, 2009
Nathan Lee welcomed with open arms at California convention
NORTH PORT -- Earlier this week, Nathan Lee, his father Mark, North Port businessman Dave Dignam, and City Commissioner David Garofalo -- all members of the Denise Amber Lee Foundation -- flew to California to attend the annual California National Emergency Number Association conference, where Nathan was the keynote speaker.
Although Nathan has spent a lot of time speaking to the media and other groups since his wife Denise's murder, he admitted to being "a little nervous" about speaking about the foundation's efforts to improve the 911 system in front of more than 600 people, but said, "It went really well."
"Before I even started speaking, and after I gave a 10-minute video presentation with the headlines and stories, I basically got a five-minute standing ovation," he said, adding his 45-minute speech was very emotional. "And I got another huge ovation afterward. Everyone is extremely happy that we're trying to change the industry."
The story of 21-year-old Denise's kidnapping and murder made national headlines last year. Jane Kowalski, of Tampa, called Charlotte County dispatchers on the night Denise was kidnapped in January 2008. She spent nine minutes on the phone with the 911 operator, describing what she was seeing -- someone banging on the window and screaming -- in the car behind her, reportedly driven by suspect Michael King, 37. But police searching for Denise never received the information, because the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office did not relay it.
Denise's body was found two days later off Toledo Blade Boulevard, and King was charged with kidnapping, rape and capital murder. His trial is scheduled for August.
Nathan said he met "everyone" at the conference.
"They just can't believe that I'm doing this, and expect I should be mad at the industry, because most people would be bashing it," he said. "I just told them that doesn't accomplish anything, and Denise would not want me to do that. I've been given the opportunity to change things -- how can I not try?"
By the end of the conference, Nathan said just about everyone was wearing a Remember Denise Amber Lee bracelet or pin.
"The people at the conference ... basically the dispatch community of California, everybody basically donated $5,000 to the foundation. They started to raise the money when they found out that we were nonprofit," he said. "The most unbelievable thing to me is seeing that Denise has been able to make a difference already."
Garofalo, a fire captain in Pasco County, called the trip "absolutely moving."
"For them to embrace the cause as much as they did ... Their standards are probably the highest in the country," he said, "but they look at it as they can always do better. I think there's probably a lot of that in Florida. We've been exposed for the bad, but there's a lot of good people in Florida, and I think we're all going to move forward with this."
Nathan also has been invited to speak at several other venues, including the California State Assembly.
"I believe I'll be attending the national (NENA) conference in Fort Worth, Texas, and 911 Goes to Washington, D.C., in March for a two- to three-day event to talk to legislators. I've been invited ... I'm not sure if I can go, but I want to," he said, calling the invitations a great honor. "It's amazing. Other than marrying Denise and seeing my two children born, this is probably the fourth best thing that's ever happened to me."
For more information about the Denise Amber Lee Foundation, visit deniseamberlee.org.
E-mail: annek@sun-herald.com
By ANNE KLOCKENKEMPER
My favorite quote in the article from Nathan "It's amazing. Other than marrying Denise and seeing my two children born, this is probably the fourth best thing that's ever happened to me."
In today's Sun Herald
Published on: Saturday, February 28, 2009
Nathan Lee welcomed with open arms at California convention
NORTH PORT -- Earlier this week, Nathan Lee, his father Mark, North Port businessman Dave Dignam, and City Commissioner David Garofalo -- all members of the Denise Amber Lee Foundation -- flew to California to attend the annual California National Emergency Number Association conference, where Nathan was the keynote speaker.
Although Nathan has spent a lot of time speaking to the media and other groups since his wife Denise's murder, he admitted to being "a little nervous" about speaking about the foundation's efforts to improve the 911 system in front of more than 600 people, but said, "It went really well."
"Before I even started speaking, and after I gave a 10-minute video presentation with the headlines and stories, I basically got a five-minute standing ovation," he said, adding his 45-minute speech was very emotional. "And I got another huge ovation afterward. Everyone is extremely happy that we're trying to change the industry."
The story of 21-year-old Denise's kidnapping and murder made national headlines last year. Jane Kowalski, of Tampa, called Charlotte County dispatchers on the night Denise was kidnapped in January 2008. She spent nine minutes on the phone with the 911 operator, describing what she was seeing -- someone banging on the window and screaming -- in the car behind her, reportedly driven by suspect Michael King, 37. But police searching for Denise never received the information, because the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office did not relay it.
Denise's body was found two days later off Toledo Blade Boulevard, and King was charged with kidnapping, rape and capital murder. His trial is scheduled for August.
Nathan said he met "everyone" at the conference.
"They just can't believe that I'm doing this, and expect I should be mad at the industry, because most people would be bashing it," he said. "I just told them that doesn't accomplish anything, and Denise would not want me to do that. I've been given the opportunity to change things -- how can I not try?"
By the end of the conference, Nathan said just about everyone was wearing a Remember Denise Amber Lee bracelet or pin.
"The people at the conference ... basically the dispatch community of California, everybody basically donated $5,000 to the foundation. They started to raise the money when they found out that we were nonprofit," he said. "The most unbelievable thing to me is seeing that Denise has been able to make a difference already."
Garofalo, a fire captain in Pasco County, called the trip "absolutely moving."
"For them to embrace the cause as much as they did ... Their standards are probably the highest in the country," he said, "but they look at it as they can always do better. I think there's probably a lot of that in Florida. We've been exposed for the bad, but there's a lot of good people in Florida, and I think we're all going to move forward with this."
Nathan also has been invited to speak at several other venues, including the California State Assembly.
"I believe I'll be attending the national (NENA) conference in Fort Worth, Texas, and 911 Goes to Washington, D.C., in March for a two- to three-day event to talk to legislators. I've been invited ... I'm not sure if I can go, but I want to," he said, calling the invitations a great honor. "It's amazing. Other than marrying Denise and seeing my two children born, this is probably the fourth best thing that's ever happened to me."
For more information about the Denise Amber Lee Foundation, visit deniseamberlee.org.
E-mail: annek@sun-herald.com
By ANNE KLOCKENKEMPER
My favorite quote in the article from Nathan "It's amazing. Other than marrying Denise and seeing my two children born, this is probably the fourth best thing that's ever happened to me."
Comment on the Denise Amber Lee website
It's so moving and wonderful the welcome the guys received out in California!
Since their return we have received many emails which, of course I am going to leave private. All express gratitude towards our guys! And it's we who should be expressing gratitude towards them! The people involved in 9-1-1 out in CA were so wonderful. The national representatives were wonderful. They just don't know what a boost of energy this has given us.
God bless them.
This comment was posted on the Denise Amber Lee website http://www.deniseamberlee.org/ :
John P. Says
2/26/2009 I would like to commend you for the work you are doing. It must be very hard for you and your family to relive this tragedy over again. However, you have turned it around and made it something that will hopefully open the eyes of a lot of personnel within our Government and Law Enforcement Community. I personally had a chance to meet you and David at the CAL NENA 2009 Conference in San Diego CA. Your presentation really hit home. I am a Supervisor within a 9-1-1 Communications Center and will personally challenge my Dispatchers to do everything possible with their training and technology/equipment available to them, to make sure this does not happen. Thank you for the opportunity to hear of this tragic incident and can only hope and pray that your message of hope can only save more lives. Thank you again!
Since their return we have received many emails which, of course I am going to leave private. All express gratitude towards our guys! And it's we who should be expressing gratitude towards them! The people involved in 9-1-1 out in CA were so wonderful. The national representatives were wonderful. They just don't know what a boost of energy this has given us.
God bless them.
This comment was posted on the Denise Amber Lee website http://www.deniseamberlee.org/ :
John P. Says
2/26/2009 I would like to commend you for the work you are doing. It must be very hard for you and your family to relive this tragedy over again. However, you have turned it around and made it something that will hopefully open the eyes of a lot of personnel within our Government and Law Enforcement Community. I personally had a chance to meet you and David at the CAL NENA 2009 Conference in San Diego CA. Your presentation really hit home. I am a Supervisor within a 9-1-1 Communications Center and will personally challenge my Dispatchers to do everything possible with their training and technology/equipment available to them, to make sure this does not happen. Thank you for the opportunity to hear of this tragic incident and can only hope and pray that your message of hope can only save more lives. Thank you again!
Friday, February 27, 2009
Nathan Lee CalNENA press release
FOUNDING PRESIDENT NATHAN LEE DELIVERS KEY NOTE ADDRESS TO CALIFORNIAS ANNUAL 9-1-1 CONFERENCE
San Diego- After a 5 minute standing ovation from the nation's largest chapter of The National Emergency Number Association (NENA), Nathan Lee came through on his promise to not let his wife's death be in vain by delivering a 45 minute speech that left not a dry eye at the San Diego Conference.
"It was an honor to speak in front of a group of such dedicated public servants who perform one of the most noblest professions in saving lives" Lee said.
The 4 day conference attracted experts worldwide in the 911 EmergencyCommunication Industry.
Mr Lee was invited to speak to the California's State Assembly to raise awareness on the importance of 911 training, funding and uniformed standards.
"The fact that Denise's story is able to make a positive impact on such a large scale and so very far away is inspiring to many in the profession and we are beginning to see her death was not in vain" Lee continued.
Geoff Weiss who is the Training Supervisor for the Communications Division of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department was the one behind the scenes and responsible for getting Nathan Lee to California, he had reached out toNathan early on in his ordeal and said that he had hoped he could help in any way that he could, "I am proud of the way California regulates dispatch and even more proud of how the members of the Denise Amber Lee Foundation were not only here for a key note speech but embedded themselves in every aspect of this 4 day conference, they really showed that they have a passion for fixing 911, I was incredibly impressed by the way they were so involved" Weiss stated.
Nathan was accompanied by other Directors from the Foundation including his father Mark Lee, Businessman Dave Dignam and North Port City Commissioner David Garofalo.
The group was able to make many contacts and are very certain that this is "Now" a national issue and will be traveling to Washington, Texas and Nevada for future national events in which the foundation was invited to participate.
I'm so proud and grateful to all who had something to do with sending Nathan and Mark to San Diego. It was so very healthy and good for them both. Emotionally, I know, they both needed it.
Dave Dignam and David Garofalo deserve our unwavering and undying gratitude. They took time away from their jobs and more especially, away from their families to be there to support Nathan. Their presence made all the difference. Yes, Mark wrote a fantastic speech that touched all the necessary points and, yes, Nathan delivered it with truly heartfelt compassion. But both the Daves networking abilities and their support made all the difference in making the entire 4-day trip a success and not just the speech. God bless you and thank you for that.
For the first time in over a year, I feel hope. I see light. I see that Denise has not died in vain. This journey is a journey of hope for so many, many peoples. And we WILL and CAN succeed in making a difference.
Angels in blue take heart! These men did a fantastic job! The hard work is paying off.
And to all the dedicated, compassionate and diligent dispatchers and call takers across the country and around the world, thank you for doing the jobs you do. And for most of you, thank you, for recognizing we are only wanting to help.
God bless California for inviting us. I can't tell you what it's meant to my family in our grieving process. Denise would be so honored and so proud.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Nathan Lee's speech at CalNENA San Diego, CA
I'm so very very proud of him. Just before his speech they showed a video of his and Denise's story. Practically everybody was crying. Including Nathan who just before his speech had to wipe his eyes. The video received a standing ovation! Mark said that during the speech Nathan was very emotional and had to hold back tears several times. He received a standing ovation at the end as well! After the speech everyone was hugging him and congratulating him. The legislators that were there want to help guide us and are giving us copies of their laws. They've been wonderful. Denise must've been smiling down on Nathan and giving him heart. She'd be so proud of him...........
BTW Mark wrote the speech.
Here's it is:
CalNENA Speech 2009
Good morning everyone.
I want to first say how honored I am to be asked to speak to this group of dedicated public servants.
In my eyes, you truly are the first line of defense for our Homeland Security.
What I would like to talk about today is to first tell you about the Denise Amber Lee Foundation that I started in honor and memory of my wonderful wife and second;
I would like to challenge your thinking on a different way to bring about changes and improvements to your industry.
There are 4 of us from the foundation here this week for the conference.
We hope to target several gatherings like this, this year to learn as much as we can.
We are not experts by any stretch of the imagination.
But we are energized and intensely motivated to do whatever we can to prevent any other family from experiencing the pain and heartbreak that we have suffered.
The famous anthropologist, Margaret Mead, once said:
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
So we are here this week to talk to as many of you as possible, to take in the trade show and listen to how you feel we should best be focusing our efforts to make a difference.
As you saw in the introductory video, many opportunities were lost that day to save Denise.
It is not my intent to vilify an industry and a system that failed her that day.
Make no mistake about it; it was a monster named Michael King who murdered my wife.
But when you look closely at the procedural breakdowns and miscommunication of vital information that occurred in that one 9-1-1 Call Center in Florida that night, you can’t help but be outraged.
There is no doubt in my mind that Denise would be alive today if vital information wasn’t grossly mishandled that evening!
And, indeed, over the ensuing months after Denise’s death, we heard from thousands of people from around the world who were outraged.
Many of the most memorable letters and emails that we received were surprising to us, from people in this industry.
We could feel the genuine compassion in those letters for our tragic loss.
We received this touching email from Geoff Weiss, training supervisor for the San Diego Sheriff’s Department.
He wrote....... “Last Thursday I taught my first class since last being in email contact with you.
Although the class was about an unrelated dispatch topic, as promised I took about 30 minutes of it to discuss the story of Denise.
I played the opening Dateline NBC 9 minute piece prior to going on our first break.
Later in the day, I finally played the conclusion..... Nate.... after the video finished I turned around to address my class of 31 dispatchers throughout the state of California and was struck by a chill of emotion as I saw half of them were in tears.
I walked back up to the front of the room, swallowed back the lump in my throat and said, “Remember why you took this job.
Remember what a critical role you play every day in public safety.”
Captain Josh Mindick Special Services Commander of the Boca Raton Florida Police Department wrote this......
“Mr. Lee, as a law enforcement professional, Commander of a 9-1-1 center, father, and husband, I watched Dateline NBC in a stoic silence.
I ordered every Telecommunicator, Police Officer and Firefighter who works in our 9-1-1 center to attend a training block on this tragedy.
It will be watched from Day 1 for new hires so that they will understand the tremendous responsibility that comes with the career they are about to undertake.
During our first session, every one of them was in tears at one point or another during the video.
It is important for my people to hear what the families had to say.
They need to realize the impact that they can make on the outcome of a call for service.”
And he finished with........ “I think they got it!”
Since Denise was the daughter of a detective of the sheriff’s office, a trust fund was set up for the community to donate to our family.
The outpouring from the community was overwhelming. College funds were set up for my two sons, Adam and Noah.
An anonymous donor picked up the tab for the entire funeral.
I knew at this point that I had to do something to give back to the community.
So on June 8th last year, I formed the Denise Amber Lee Foundation.
I wanted to raise funds so that I could help families who experienced similar tragedies but didn’t have the enormous backing of the community like I had enjoyed.
I wanted to set-up trust funds for these families, maybe pay for funerals or help with their debts.
I’m sure many of you are aware of Kevin Willett's group at 911cares.com that provides comfort and support to members of the 9-1-1 community experiencing tragedy.
I think that is an absolutely wonderful idea.
That is what I want to provide for families experiencing tragedies from the shortcomings and inefficiencies of the 9-1-1 system.
The Denise Amber Lee Foundation also is chartered to raise public awareness of 9-1-1 issues and to promote solutions.
I started the foundation with $15,000 of money donated to our family and we are now aggressively seeking donations and sponsorships to carry out our mission.
The largest community foundation in Florida soon partnered with us in our cause. The Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice brings their considerable resources and influences to our disposal. In this past legislative session of the Florida legislature, Denise’s father, Detective Rick Goff and myself were called to Tallahassee to support pending legislation for a first ever training standard for 9-1-1 call takers and dispatchers.
Unfortunately, it was an unfunded and voluntary bill, although a great first step.
(Insert Nathan’s account of the event.)
Several legislators are ready to sponsor legislation in the coming session of the Florida legislature to make this training mandatory......
This is what keeps me going.....
This is my motivation....
Helen Keller was once quoted as saying....
“Many persons have a wrong idea of true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.”
Most of you are familiar with the tragic circumstances of TV’s Americas Most Wanted host, John Walsh.
His 6 year old son Adam was kidnapped and brutally murdered in Florida in 1981.
In his book “Tears of Rage,” Mr. Walsh writes;
“People who haven’t been hit by crime can still enjoy what my wife and I call ‘the luxury of being naïve.’
They go around thinking that it could never happen to them. I envy those people; I truly do.
They don’t know any better.
They don’t understand that, once it happens to you, everything changes, every tiny aspect of your life.
And even though you may look the same on the outside and maybe acting the same way; on the inside you’re coming from a totally different place.”
He continues “To us, even back in the early days, our most basic understanding was always unspoken: Adam cannot have died in vain.
If we had not gone on to do what we eventually did, we would have remained as we were: two grief stricken hand wringing parents who other people looked at and felt sorry for.
But we both came to believe that if you are given the opportunity to change things, then how can you at least not try?”
It has only been 9 months since we started the Denise Amber Lee Foundation but we have had our successes.
Everyone has heard the saying “Sometimes you can’t see the forest for the trees.”
That saying means when you are involved with all of the small details, it’s hard to see the larger picture.
I feel that is one of our advantages. We don't know the details.
Our concept of 9-1-1, and I think shared by most of the general public, is that you dial 9-1-1 and help arrives fast.
In our pursuit of seeing how we can make a difference, we have taken a more in depth look at how the industry works.
From our perspective of being on the outside looking in, it is crystal clear that the 9-1-1 system is a complicated, complex array of hardware, software, telecommunication networks, personnel and procedures that must all operate flawlessly for the system to work......
It is absolutely amazing to me that the system doesn’t fail more often.
The Denise Amber Lee Foundation has initially identified five areas that we would like to focus on;
Number 1 is training.
We feel that mandatory, standardized training is a must.
The best technology in the world is useless if call takers and dispatchers aren’t trained properly on its use.
Many of you who saw the Dateline and Primetime episodes on Denise’s case know that those shows focused on the mishandled 9-1-1 call from a citizen hero, Jane Kowalski.
Believe me, if you study the Internal Affairs Investigation of that night you will see many other mistakes from lack of training and improper procedures.
It is not my intent to speak on those errors today but if anyone is interested in those details, please see one of us this week and we will be happy to disclose those to you.
From the many emails we have received, mandatory training appears to be a goal of many of you in the industry as well.
The second area of focus for our foundation is appropriate compensation for call takers and dispatchers.
We have discovered that some jurisdictions in this country have starting salaries as low as $10.50/hour for call takers.... ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
(here Nathan ad libs and talks about working at Best Buy selling televisions. He points out how much he makes, which is substantially more than call takers and dispatchers in certain areas. He makes a point that he doesn't save lives.)
In emergency services it is hard to say that one link in the chain is more important than another.
Everyone agrees that the call takers job is stressful and at times heart wrenching as they try and console a hysterical caller.
Everyone agrees that if this initial contact with the caller in need of assistance isn’t handled appropriately, it doesn’t matter how good the rest of the chain is, it is going to fail and a tragedy could be the result. If not for the trained and efficient call takers and dispatchers; police would not be able to prevent the rape and murder of a young mother; fire fighters would not be able to recue a child from a burning building and EMTs would not be able reach an accident victim in time to provide life saving first aid.
In an industry where employee retention is an issue, how can we attract dedicated, compassionate, and career minded workers; ask them to endure the stress and undergo the hours and hours of training necessary to perform their duties efficiently for $10.50/hour?
We can’t.
The public has to be made aware of this... and it has to change.
The third area that our foundation would like to address is increased funding for the tremendous financial challenge of bringing Next Generation Technologies and procedures on line.
In my home state of Florida, we pay a mere 50 cents per month, per phone line for 9-1-1 services.
I am confident that if the general public was aware of all the issues we are addressing today, they would willingly pay more.
Our fourth area of concern is quality assurance.
I know that many of your agencies have quality assurance procedures in place.
But we have heard from many industry people from around the country that analysis of how calls are handled and dispatched only occur after a tragic outcome.
There needs to be an ongoing, automatic random review of calls.
It would be a valuable opportunity for continuing education and training to correct errors before they result in a tragedy.
Our fifth area of focus is cell phone location.
It is hard to say that this area of focus may be the most important as all of these items have tremendous life saving potential.
But clearly the ability to know exact location of the mobile phone making the call to 9-1-1 for help would potentially save thousands of lives annually.
This is an issue that is baffling to us and most of the general public.
This is an issue that frustrates most of the people in this room.
We, as outsiders to the industry have very basic knowledge of Enhanced 9-1-1 and basic knowledge of locating a phone caller through triangulation calculations.
This seems to be time consuming, labor intensive, and obsolete information if, as in my wife's case, an abduction is happening in a moving vehicle.
Do the calculations have to be continually revised? My wife, Denise, was somehow able to make a 911 call during her abduction using her killers cell phone. She was able to keep the line open for 7 minutes before he realized what she had done. I know Denise thought that if she could keep the line open, the police would be able to trace her location and save her.
I have a little Garmin GPS screen on my dashboard that I can activate and watch my car on a detailed map, travel down the highway.
It seems to be incredibly accurate down to a few feet and displays all of the names of the approaching streets.
In my area of Southwest Florida, I live on the beautiful Gulf of Mexico.
I can hop in my friend's fishing boat for a day of grouper fishing, plug in a few GPS coordinates and head out into this vast marine wilderness of some 615,000 sq miles and find a pre-programmed reef site of maybe 30 feet across, 30 miles off the coast, where we can catch grouper all day.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
WE CAN'T FIND A CELL PHONE WHEN SOMEONE DIALS 9-1-1?
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
The members of our foundation who are here this week need your thoughts and opinions on this issue.
I can’t think of any greater opportunity to save lives than to be able to locate a person in distress that uses their cell phone to dial 9-1-1.
Tell us where the difficulties lie. Help us understand the challenges of this critical issue from your perspective.
I mentioned in the beginning that I would like to challenge your thinking on a different way to bring improvements and changes to the 9-1-1 system.
Once again, it appears to this outsider, as this industry transitions into a Next Generation Framework, there are some amazing challenges pertaining to funding, technology, training, etc…
Again, public perception of the industry is very different than the reality.
It takes the public to urge their politicians to enact laws for adequate funding and standardized procedures.
It appears to me that the industry is woefully under-funded and unprepared to utilize the new communication technologies being brought to market today for consumer purchase.
This is a huge public safety issue.
If the public was aware of this fact they would demand that the 9-1-1 system be provided with adequate funds to fully staff the centers with motivated, compassionate and appropriately paid personnel.
They would demand the center be outfitted with the tools needed to process today’s technologies.
They would demand that policies, procedures and technologies be in place to reduce the opportunity for human error.
I submit to you,... that this public outcry for improvements to the 9-1-1 system will happen at a far more rapid rate by publicizing and focusing on the mishaps in the industry as opposed to the success stories of lives saved.
I don’t know how many of you saw the Dr. Phil show that Mr. Charles Cullen and I were featured on.
And, I know many of you cringed as you watched an hour of these painful stories.
But, if you looked at the message board on Dr. Phil’s website, you would have seen that show generated more comments than almost any show aired during that 2 or 3 week timeframe.
The Dateline NBC episode featuring our tragedy was the #1 story on the Dateline website for 6 weeks.
That’s what this industry needs.
That’s the kind of public reaction and outrage that will drive public policy for change.
EMBRACE IT.
The stories of talented call takers and dispatchers who provide calming directions to a father to help birth his son or daughter are heart warming. And these 911 workers need to be recognized and rewarded. I think of these stories as being miraculous and applaud them.
But I wonder if these stories are not counter-productive to raising public awareness of the shortfalls in funding that, I am sure all of you agree, are facing this industry.
If the public just sees these “feel good” stories, they will feel no urgent need to approve an additional fee on their phone bill to improve a 9-1-1 system that appears to have no problems or challenges.
Let me tell you what The Denise Amber Lee Foundation is doing to prove this theory.
Unfortunately, in our home state of Florida, there are no shortages of 9-1-1 tragedies.
Our initiative in Florida is to build a database of these tragic instances and identify the Florida legislators who represent the victims in those legislative districts.
These legislators are willing soldiers in the fight for mandatory training, increased funding and other issues that need addressing in the state’s 9-1-1 system.
It becomes political suicide to oppose changing the system that may have contributed to the death of one of their constituents.
For those cold-hearted legislators who still don’t feel the need to act, the press is more than willing to publicize their opposition.
My father recently contacted New York Assemblyman David Koon for his advice on making changes to Florida’s laws.
He came across Assemblyman Koon’s story on the E-911 Institute’s website.
Mr. Koon’s daughter, Jennifer, was abducted from a suburban mall parking lot in 1993 and murdered.
Mr. Koon was aware of Denise’s story.
When he heard the pain and disgust in my father’s voice, he also heard the dedication and commitment to do something about it.
Mr. Koon offered his heartfelt condolences and then chuckled and said “I know exactly what you’re feeling and get ready for an education in politics.”
He said, you need to set up meetings with legislators in Tallahassee and appeal to their sense of compassion, fairness, and doing what is right.
And if that doesn’t work be prepared to get in their face and start yelling and screaming.
He went on to say; “Don’t underestimate the power of threats.
Tell him or her that if they won’t support this legislation, you will run against them in the next election and take their seat.”
And he was saying this from experience….This is exactly how Assemblyman Koon’s political career started.
When he asked a local official to have security cameras installed in the parking lot where his daughter was abducted, he was told no.
That local official lost the following election to.... Mr. David Koon. Thus began his political career.
One of Mr. Koon’s legislative priorities was full funding of E-911 in New York State.
His daughter made a 9-1-1 call during her abduction ordeal but, although the call lasted 20 minutes, 9-1-1 dispatchers were unable to locate her.
E-911 was not fully implemented as late as 2003 because of opposition of then governor, George Pataki.
When 4 teenagers in a row boat on Long Island Sound died because no one could locate their position after a call for help to 9-1-1, Assemblyman Koon went on state TV and called Governor Pataki a murderer for not signing this legislation.
The next time the legislation came before the governor, it was promptly signed.
When John Walsh’s son, Adam was abducted, he and his wife assumed that the FBI would come swooping in immediately to catch the bad guy and return their son.
What they found out was shocking to them.
The FBI could look for stolen automobiles but was not authorized to look for stolen children.
To their further amazement was the fact that there was no national database to keep track of the over 150,000 child abduction cases each year.
The shocking reality of their story brought much needed attention to this issue and was instrumental in the passage of The Missing Children’s Act and the establishment of the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children.
Let me give you just a couple other examples where these tragedies energized society and policy makers in a positive way for change.
In 1996, 9 year old Amber Hagerman was abducted while riding her bicycle in Arlington, Texas.
Four days after the abduction, her body was found in a drainage ditch.
Her parents, with the help of Marc Klaas, whose own daughter Polly had been abducted and murdered in 1993, soon established People Against Sex Offenders.
The intense media coverage and public outrage this case generated forced Congress to draft the Amber Hagerman Child Protection Act which was eventually signed into law in 1996 by President Clinton.
Of course this led to the very successful Amber Alert System that we are all familiar with today.
And this last example, unfortunately, again comes from my home state of Florida.
Jessica Lunsford was a young girl in Florida who was raped and murdered by John Couey, a convicted sex offender.
Couey lived just a few hundred yards from the Lunsford home.
Public outrage over this case spurred Florida officials to introduce and pass “Jessica’s Law.”
This is the informal name given to a law designed to punish sex offenders by imposing a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years in prison and lifetime electronic monitoring.
These are just a few, of the many examples of the power of these tragic events.
These are examples of where rapid change occurred as a result of the good people in society, rallying around cause, brought to their attention by media coverage of a tragedy.
As I wrap up my presentation here today let me reiterate that you and I know that these tragedies are truly a small percentage of all calls made to 9-1-1 every year.
I don’t have the statistics but I am sure some of you do.
But I want you to consider that this very small percentage can have a huge... positive impact on this industry if it can be channeled and focused in a responsible way.
You are on the front lines of one of the noblest causes there is; saving of human lives.
You are compassionate and dedicated people who do your best under stressful situations.
The French novelist Victor Hugo once said;
“Greater than the threat of mighty armies is an idea whose time has come.”
I truly feel that the time has come for the dedicated, committed members of this industry to embrace this idea as a powerful weapon for change.
The Denise Amber Lee Foundation wants to position itself at the forefront of this issue.
We want to not only provide comfort and support to the families of victims but also to provide hope…
That their loved one didn’t die in vain.
We want to give them an outlet and an avenue to channel their pain, anguish, and yes; sometimes anger to bring about changes and improvements to this essential service.
We envision a partnership with 9-1-1 industry members and responsible media to drive change to public policy.
It is true that media tends to sensationalize these stories to boost ratings but isn’t this what we want?....
As many people as possible to see the senseless and sometimes tragic outcomes resulting from the lack of funding that would allow you to better train and equip your 9-1-1 Communication Centers?
I have to tell you that the media has shown true compassion to us during our tragedy and seem genuine in their offers of assistance to help us anyway they can.
I want to again thank CalNENA for this opportunity.
We are excited and looking forward to the next couple of days and we are energized for this cause.
I would urge all of you to visit our website at www.DeniseAmberLee.org and we welcome all comments and suggestions and finally let me leave you with this:..
The 18th century Irish political leader and author, Edmund Burke, once said
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
I have seen the evil in our society but I have also seen the good;
and I have enough faith in human nature to predict that if people knew about the problems and challenges of this industry
AND the sometimes horrifying consequences of its failures, they would do something to stop it.
Thank you and God Bless you for your service.
BTW Mark wrote the speech.
Here's it is:
CalNENA Speech 2009
Good morning everyone.
I want to first say how honored I am to be asked to speak to this group of dedicated public servants.
In my eyes, you truly are the first line of defense for our Homeland Security.
What I would like to talk about today is to first tell you about the Denise Amber Lee Foundation that I started in honor and memory of my wonderful wife and second;
I would like to challenge your thinking on a different way to bring about changes and improvements to your industry.
There are 4 of us from the foundation here this week for the conference.
We hope to target several gatherings like this, this year to learn as much as we can.
We are not experts by any stretch of the imagination.
But we are energized and intensely motivated to do whatever we can to prevent any other family from experiencing the pain and heartbreak that we have suffered.
The famous anthropologist, Margaret Mead, once said:
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
So we are here this week to talk to as many of you as possible, to take in the trade show and listen to how you feel we should best be focusing our efforts to make a difference.
As you saw in the introductory video, many opportunities were lost that day to save Denise.
It is not my intent to vilify an industry and a system that failed her that day.
Make no mistake about it; it was a monster named Michael King who murdered my wife.
But when you look closely at the procedural breakdowns and miscommunication of vital information that occurred in that one 9-1-1 Call Center in Florida that night, you can’t help but be outraged.
There is no doubt in my mind that Denise would be alive today if vital information wasn’t grossly mishandled that evening!
And, indeed, over the ensuing months after Denise’s death, we heard from thousands of people from around the world who were outraged.
Many of the most memorable letters and emails that we received were surprising to us, from people in this industry.
We could feel the genuine compassion in those letters for our tragic loss.
We received this touching email from Geoff Weiss, training supervisor for the San Diego Sheriff’s Department.
He wrote....... “Last Thursday I taught my first class since last being in email contact with you.
Although the class was about an unrelated dispatch topic, as promised I took about 30 minutes of it to discuss the story of Denise.
I played the opening Dateline NBC 9 minute piece prior to going on our first break.
Later in the day, I finally played the conclusion..... Nate.... after the video finished I turned around to address my class of 31 dispatchers throughout the state of California and was struck by a chill of emotion as I saw half of them were in tears.
I walked back up to the front of the room, swallowed back the lump in my throat and said, “Remember why you took this job.
Remember what a critical role you play every day in public safety.”
Captain Josh Mindick Special Services Commander of the Boca Raton Florida Police Department wrote this......
“Mr. Lee, as a law enforcement professional, Commander of a 9-1-1 center, father, and husband, I watched Dateline NBC in a stoic silence.
I ordered every Telecommunicator, Police Officer and Firefighter who works in our 9-1-1 center to attend a training block on this tragedy.
It will be watched from Day 1 for new hires so that they will understand the tremendous responsibility that comes with the career they are about to undertake.
During our first session, every one of them was in tears at one point or another during the video.
It is important for my people to hear what the families had to say.
They need to realize the impact that they can make on the outcome of a call for service.”
And he finished with........ “I think they got it!”
Since Denise was the daughter of a detective of the sheriff’s office, a trust fund was set up for the community to donate to our family.
The outpouring from the community was overwhelming. College funds were set up for my two sons, Adam and Noah.
An anonymous donor picked up the tab for the entire funeral.
I knew at this point that I had to do something to give back to the community.
So on June 8th last year, I formed the Denise Amber Lee Foundation.
I wanted to raise funds so that I could help families who experienced similar tragedies but didn’t have the enormous backing of the community like I had enjoyed.
I wanted to set-up trust funds for these families, maybe pay for funerals or help with their debts.
I’m sure many of you are aware of Kevin Willett's group at 911cares.com that provides comfort and support to members of the 9-1-1 community experiencing tragedy.
I think that is an absolutely wonderful idea.
That is what I want to provide for families experiencing tragedies from the shortcomings and inefficiencies of the 9-1-1 system.
The Denise Amber Lee Foundation also is chartered to raise public awareness of 9-1-1 issues and to promote solutions.
I started the foundation with $15,000 of money donated to our family and we are now aggressively seeking donations and sponsorships to carry out our mission.
The largest community foundation in Florida soon partnered with us in our cause. The Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice brings their considerable resources and influences to our disposal. In this past legislative session of the Florida legislature, Denise’s father, Detective Rick Goff and myself were called to Tallahassee to support pending legislation for a first ever training standard for 9-1-1 call takers and dispatchers.
Unfortunately, it was an unfunded and voluntary bill, although a great first step.
(Insert Nathan’s account of the event.)
Several legislators are ready to sponsor legislation in the coming session of the Florida legislature to make this training mandatory......
This is what keeps me going.....
This is my motivation....
Helen Keller was once quoted as saying....
“Many persons have a wrong idea of true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.”
Most of you are familiar with the tragic circumstances of TV’s Americas Most Wanted host, John Walsh.
His 6 year old son Adam was kidnapped and brutally murdered in Florida in 1981.
In his book “Tears of Rage,” Mr. Walsh writes;
“People who haven’t been hit by crime can still enjoy what my wife and I call ‘the luxury of being naïve.’
They go around thinking that it could never happen to them. I envy those people; I truly do.
They don’t know any better.
They don’t understand that, once it happens to you, everything changes, every tiny aspect of your life.
And even though you may look the same on the outside and maybe acting the same way; on the inside you’re coming from a totally different place.”
He continues “To us, even back in the early days, our most basic understanding was always unspoken: Adam cannot have died in vain.
If we had not gone on to do what we eventually did, we would have remained as we were: two grief stricken hand wringing parents who other people looked at and felt sorry for.
But we both came to believe that if you are given the opportunity to change things, then how can you at least not try?”
It has only been 9 months since we started the Denise Amber Lee Foundation but we have had our successes.
Everyone has heard the saying “Sometimes you can’t see the forest for the trees.”
That saying means when you are involved with all of the small details, it’s hard to see the larger picture.
I feel that is one of our advantages. We don't know the details.
Our concept of 9-1-1, and I think shared by most of the general public, is that you dial 9-1-1 and help arrives fast.
In our pursuit of seeing how we can make a difference, we have taken a more in depth look at how the industry works.
From our perspective of being on the outside looking in, it is crystal clear that the 9-1-1 system is a complicated, complex array of hardware, software, telecommunication networks, personnel and procedures that must all operate flawlessly for the system to work......
It is absolutely amazing to me that the system doesn’t fail more often.
The Denise Amber Lee Foundation has initially identified five areas that we would like to focus on;
Number 1 is training.
We feel that mandatory, standardized training is a must.
The best technology in the world is useless if call takers and dispatchers aren’t trained properly on its use.
Many of you who saw the Dateline and Primetime episodes on Denise’s case know that those shows focused on the mishandled 9-1-1 call from a citizen hero, Jane Kowalski.
Believe me, if you study the Internal Affairs Investigation of that night you will see many other mistakes from lack of training and improper procedures.
It is not my intent to speak on those errors today but if anyone is interested in those details, please see one of us this week and we will be happy to disclose those to you.
From the many emails we have received, mandatory training appears to be a goal of many of you in the industry as well.
The second area of focus for our foundation is appropriate compensation for call takers and dispatchers.
We have discovered that some jurisdictions in this country have starting salaries as low as $10.50/hour for call takers.... ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
(here Nathan ad libs and talks about working at Best Buy selling televisions. He points out how much he makes, which is substantially more than call takers and dispatchers in certain areas. He makes a point that he doesn't save lives.)
In emergency services it is hard to say that one link in the chain is more important than another.
Everyone agrees that the call takers job is stressful and at times heart wrenching as they try and console a hysterical caller.
Everyone agrees that if this initial contact with the caller in need of assistance isn’t handled appropriately, it doesn’t matter how good the rest of the chain is, it is going to fail and a tragedy could be the result. If not for the trained and efficient call takers and dispatchers; police would not be able to prevent the rape and murder of a young mother; fire fighters would not be able to recue a child from a burning building and EMTs would not be able reach an accident victim in time to provide life saving first aid.
In an industry where employee retention is an issue, how can we attract dedicated, compassionate, and career minded workers; ask them to endure the stress and undergo the hours and hours of training necessary to perform their duties efficiently for $10.50/hour?
We can’t.
The public has to be made aware of this... and it has to change.
The third area that our foundation would like to address is increased funding for the tremendous financial challenge of bringing Next Generation Technologies and procedures on line.
In my home state of Florida, we pay a mere 50 cents per month, per phone line for 9-1-1 services.
I am confident that if the general public was aware of all the issues we are addressing today, they would willingly pay more.
Our fourth area of concern is quality assurance.
I know that many of your agencies have quality assurance procedures in place.
But we have heard from many industry people from around the country that analysis of how calls are handled and dispatched only occur after a tragic outcome.
There needs to be an ongoing, automatic random review of calls.
It would be a valuable opportunity for continuing education and training to correct errors before they result in a tragedy.
Our fifth area of focus is cell phone location.
It is hard to say that this area of focus may be the most important as all of these items have tremendous life saving potential.
But clearly the ability to know exact location of the mobile phone making the call to 9-1-1 for help would potentially save thousands of lives annually.
This is an issue that is baffling to us and most of the general public.
This is an issue that frustrates most of the people in this room.
We, as outsiders to the industry have very basic knowledge of Enhanced 9-1-1 and basic knowledge of locating a phone caller through triangulation calculations.
This seems to be time consuming, labor intensive, and obsolete information if, as in my wife's case, an abduction is happening in a moving vehicle.
Do the calculations have to be continually revised? My wife, Denise, was somehow able to make a 911 call during her abduction using her killers cell phone. She was able to keep the line open for 7 minutes before he realized what she had done. I know Denise thought that if she could keep the line open, the police would be able to trace her location and save her.
I have a little Garmin GPS screen on my dashboard that I can activate and watch my car on a detailed map, travel down the highway.
It seems to be incredibly accurate down to a few feet and displays all of the names of the approaching streets.
In my area of Southwest Florida, I live on the beautiful Gulf of Mexico.
I can hop in my friend's fishing boat for a day of grouper fishing, plug in a few GPS coordinates and head out into this vast marine wilderness of some 615,000 sq miles and find a pre-programmed reef site of maybe 30 feet across, 30 miles off the coast, where we can catch grouper all day.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
WE CAN'T FIND A CELL PHONE WHEN SOMEONE DIALS 9-1-1?
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
The members of our foundation who are here this week need your thoughts and opinions on this issue.
I can’t think of any greater opportunity to save lives than to be able to locate a person in distress that uses their cell phone to dial 9-1-1.
Tell us where the difficulties lie. Help us understand the challenges of this critical issue from your perspective.
I mentioned in the beginning that I would like to challenge your thinking on a different way to bring improvements and changes to the 9-1-1 system.
Once again, it appears to this outsider, as this industry transitions into a Next Generation Framework, there are some amazing challenges pertaining to funding, technology, training, etc…
Again, public perception of the industry is very different than the reality.
It takes the public to urge their politicians to enact laws for adequate funding and standardized procedures.
It appears to me that the industry is woefully under-funded and unprepared to utilize the new communication technologies being brought to market today for consumer purchase.
This is a huge public safety issue.
If the public was aware of this fact they would demand that the 9-1-1 system be provided with adequate funds to fully staff the centers with motivated, compassionate and appropriately paid personnel.
They would demand the center be outfitted with the tools needed to process today’s technologies.
They would demand that policies, procedures and technologies be in place to reduce the opportunity for human error.
I submit to you,... that this public outcry for improvements to the 9-1-1 system will happen at a far more rapid rate by publicizing and focusing on the mishaps in the industry as opposed to the success stories of lives saved.
I don’t know how many of you saw the Dr. Phil show that Mr. Charles Cullen and I were featured on.
And, I know many of you cringed as you watched an hour of these painful stories.
But, if you looked at the message board on Dr. Phil’s website, you would have seen that show generated more comments than almost any show aired during that 2 or 3 week timeframe.
The Dateline NBC episode featuring our tragedy was the #1 story on the Dateline website for 6 weeks.
That’s what this industry needs.
That’s the kind of public reaction and outrage that will drive public policy for change.
EMBRACE IT.
The stories of talented call takers and dispatchers who provide calming directions to a father to help birth his son or daughter are heart warming. And these 911 workers need to be recognized and rewarded. I think of these stories as being miraculous and applaud them.
But I wonder if these stories are not counter-productive to raising public awareness of the shortfalls in funding that, I am sure all of you agree, are facing this industry.
If the public just sees these “feel good” stories, they will feel no urgent need to approve an additional fee on their phone bill to improve a 9-1-1 system that appears to have no problems or challenges.
Let me tell you what The Denise Amber Lee Foundation is doing to prove this theory.
Unfortunately, in our home state of Florida, there are no shortages of 9-1-1 tragedies.
Our initiative in Florida is to build a database of these tragic instances and identify the Florida legislators who represent the victims in those legislative districts.
These legislators are willing soldiers in the fight for mandatory training, increased funding and other issues that need addressing in the state’s 9-1-1 system.
It becomes political suicide to oppose changing the system that may have contributed to the death of one of their constituents.
For those cold-hearted legislators who still don’t feel the need to act, the press is more than willing to publicize their opposition.
My father recently contacted New York Assemblyman David Koon for his advice on making changes to Florida’s laws.
He came across Assemblyman Koon’s story on the E-911 Institute’s website.
Mr. Koon’s daughter, Jennifer, was abducted from a suburban mall parking lot in 1993 and murdered.
Mr. Koon was aware of Denise’s story.
When he heard the pain and disgust in my father’s voice, he also heard the dedication and commitment to do something about it.
Mr. Koon offered his heartfelt condolences and then chuckled and said “I know exactly what you’re feeling and get ready for an education in politics.”
He said, you need to set up meetings with legislators in Tallahassee and appeal to their sense of compassion, fairness, and doing what is right.
And if that doesn’t work be prepared to get in their face and start yelling and screaming.
He went on to say; “Don’t underestimate the power of threats.
Tell him or her that if they won’t support this legislation, you will run against them in the next election and take their seat.”
And he was saying this from experience….This is exactly how Assemblyman Koon’s political career started.
When he asked a local official to have security cameras installed in the parking lot where his daughter was abducted, he was told no.
That local official lost the following election to.... Mr. David Koon. Thus began his political career.
One of Mr. Koon’s legislative priorities was full funding of E-911 in New York State.
His daughter made a 9-1-1 call during her abduction ordeal but, although the call lasted 20 minutes, 9-1-1 dispatchers were unable to locate her.
E-911 was not fully implemented as late as 2003 because of opposition of then governor, George Pataki.
When 4 teenagers in a row boat on Long Island Sound died because no one could locate their position after a call for help to 9-1-1, Assemblyman Koon went on state TV and called Governor Pataki a murderer for not signing this legislation.
The next time the legislation came before the governor, it was promptly signed.
When John Walsh’s son, Adam was abducted, he and his wife assumed that the FBI would come swooping in immediately to catch the bad guy and return their son.
What they found out was shocking to them.
The FBI could look for stolen automobiles but was not authorized to look for stolen children.
To their further amazement was the fact that there was no national database to keep track of the over 150,000 child abduction cases each year.
The shocking reality of their story brought much needed attention to this issue and was instrumental in the passage of The Missing Children’s Act and the establishment of the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children.
Let me give you just a couple other examples where these tragedies energized society and policy makers in a positive way for change.
In 1996, 9 year old Amber Hagerman was abducted while riding her bicycle in Arlington, Texas.
Four days after the abduction, her body was found in a drainage ditch.
Her parents, with the help of Marc Klaas, whose own daughter Polly had been abducted and murdered in 1993, soon established People Against Sex Offenders.
The intense media coverage and public outrage this case generated forced Congress to draft the Amber Hagerman Child Protection Act which was eventually signed into law in 1996 by President Clinton.
Of course this led to the very successful Amber Alert System that we are all familiar with today.
And this last example, unfortunately, again comes from my home state of Florida.
Jessica Lunsford was a young girl in Florida who was raped and murdered by John Couey, a convicted sex offender.
Couey lived just a few hundred yards from the Lunsford home.
Public outrage over this case spurred Florida officials to introduce and pass “Jessica’s Law.”
This is the informal name given to a law designed to punish sex offenders by imposing a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years in prison and lifetime electronic monitoring.
These are just a few, of the many examples of the power of these tragic events.
These are examples of where rapid change occurred as a result of the good people in society, rallying around cause, brought to their attention by media coverage of a tragedy.
As I wrap up my presentation here today let me reiterate that you and I know that these tragedies are truly a small percentage of all calls made to 9-1-1 every year.
I don’t have the statistics but I am sure some of you do.
But I want you to consider that this very small percentage can have a huge... positive impact on this industry if it can be channeled and focused in a responsible way.
You are on the front lines of one of the noblest causes there is; saving of human lives.
You are compassionate and dedicated people who do your best under stressful situations.
The French novelist Victor Hugo once said;
“Greater than the threat of mighty armies is an idea whose time has come.”
I truly feel that the time has come for the dedicated, committed members of this industry to embrace this idea as a powerful weapon for change.
The Denise Amber Lee Foundation wants to position itself at the forefront of this issue.
We want to not only provide comfort and support to the families of victims but also to provide hope…
That their loved one didn’t die in vain.
We want to give them an outlet and an avenue to channel their pain, anguish, and yes; sometimes anger to bring about changes and improvements to this essential service.
We envision a partnership with 9-1-1 industry members and responsible media to drive change to public policy.
It is true that media tends to sensationalize these stories to boost ratings but isn’t this what we want?....
As many people as possible to see the senseless and sometimes tragic outcomes resulting from the lack of funding that would allow you to better train and equip your 9-1-1 Communication Centers?
I have to tell you that the media has shown true compassion to us during our tragedy and seem genuine in their offers of assistance to help us anyway they can.
I want to again thank CalNENA for this opportunity.
We are excited and looking forward to the next couple of days and we are energized for this cause.
I would urge all of you to visit our website at www.DeniseAmberLee.org and we welcome all comments and suggestions and finally let me leave you with this:..
The 18th century Irish political leader and author, Edmund Burke, once said
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
I have seen the evil in our society but I have also seen the good;
and I have enough faith in human nature to predict that if people knew about the problems and challenges of this industry
AND the sometimes horrifying consequences of its failures, they would do something to stop it.
Thank you and God Bless you for your service.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Today's Sun Herald
Published on: Monday, February 23, 2009
Lee to speak at 911 conference in California
NORTH PORT -- Speaking to television crews and newspaper reporters of his wife's abduction and murder is something Nathan Lee has made a part of his mission to get the word out about what he calls a "broken 911 system."
Tuesday, Nathan will share that message with thousands in California expected at a 911 conference.
The story of 21-year-old Denise Amber Lee's death last January made national headlines. Nathan, 24, spoke on the "Dr. Phil" show, NBC's "Dateline," "20/20" and on local TV news about how that fateful Jan. 17, 2008, day changed many lives.
Now during interviews, Nathan explains how a foundation of volunteers has been created in Denise's name. Its mission is to improve the 911 dispatch system and bring a state-of-the-art 911 call center to North Port.
On Sunday, members of the Denise Amber Lee Foundation -- Nathan, the president; his father, Mark, research director; Dave Dignam, advisory council director; and North Port City Commissioner David Garofalo, community relations director -- flew to California for the annual California National Emergency Number Association conference. The team will support Nathan, who was invited to be the keynote speaker.
The three-day event will offer breakout sessions and discussions on technological advances, overcoming challenges, and truths and myths about radio systems, history, regionalizing systems and numerous other lessons for 911 dispatchers.
On Tuesday, Nathan will have an hour and a half to tell his story of life after Denise's murder.
Just one year later, his story includes a lawsuit against the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office claiming "negligence leading to Denise's death." Nathan says none of the critical information provided by Tampa resident Jane Kowalski, the last witness believed to have seen Denise alive, was relayed to CCSO deputies or North Port police officers during the massive manhunt on the night Denise was killed.
Traveling on U.S 41 near the Charlotte-Sarasota county line, Kowalski told a Charlotte County 911 dispatcher what she was witnessing in the dark-colored Camaro alongside her, reportedly driven by suspect Michael King. Kowalski said she saw someone banging on the window and screaming. The car turned onto Toledo Blade Boulevard during her conversation.
Denise's body was found two days later off Toledo Blade, near Interstate 75.
The CCSO did not relay Kowalski's information to North Port police until then, when local investigators requested it. North Port only learned about Kowalski after she called city police to see if they were interested in what she witnessed. Kowalski maintains that following her nine-minute 911 call, Charlotte County has never tried to call her again for any additional information.
King, 37, of North Port, was charged with Denise's abduction, rape and murder. His trial is set for August.
"Last year, I learned that when Denise's story was told to a group of dispatchers, there wasn't a dry eye in the room. Even the instructor had a difficult time continuing the class," Nathan said. "Denise should be here with our two boys (Noah, 3, and Adam, 19 months) today. I will take every opportunity offered to explain that more needs to be done about the broken 911 system.
"This is an opportunity for our organization to reach across state lines and let our country know that the foundation's ultimate goal is to increase the level of training for 911 call takers and dispatchers, eventually making these standards mandatory," he said. "We hope to gain a working relationship with the state of California, which already has increased levels of training."
Garofalo, a fire captain in Pasco County, said first responders should be afforded additional training.
"No one should ever worry when they call for help that a 911 operator, a police officer or firefighter is not properly trained," he said.
For more information about the Denise Amber Lee Foundation, visit www.deniseamberlee.org.
E-mail: eallen@sun-herald.com
By ELAINE ALLEN-EMRICH
North Port Community News Editor
Lee to speak at 911 conference in California
NORTH PORT -- Speaking to television crews and newspaper reporters of his wife's abduction and murder is something Nathan Lee has made a part of his mission to get the word out about what he calls a "broken 911 system."
Tuesday, Nathan will share that message with thousands in California expected at a 911 conference.
The story of 21-year-old Denise Amber Lee's death last January made national headlines. Nathan, 24, spoke on the "Dr. Phil" show, NBC's "Dateline," "20/20" and on local TV news about how that fateful Jan. 17, 2008, day changed many lives.
Now during interviews, Nathan explains how a foundation of volunteers has been created in Denise's name. Its mission is to improve the 911 dispatch system and bring a state-of-the-art 911 call center to North Port.
On Sunday, members of the Denise Amber Lee Foundation -- Nathan, the president; his father, Mark, research director; Dave Dignam, advisory council director; and North Port City Commissioner David Garofalo, community relations director -- flew to California for the annual California National Emergency Number Association conference. The team will support Nathan, who was invited to be the keynote speaker.
The three-day event will offer breakout sessions and discussions on technological advances, overcoming challenges, and truths and myths about radio systems, history, regionalizing systems and numerous other lessons for 911 dispatchers.
On Tuesday, Nathan will have an hour and a half to tell his story of life after Denise's murder.
Just one year later, his story includes a lawsuit against the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office claiming "negligence leading to Denise's death." Nathan says none of the critical information provided by Tampa resident Jane Kowalski, the last witness believed to have seen Denise alive, was relayed to CCSO deputies or North Port police officers during the massive manhunt on the night Denise was killed.
Traveling on U.S 41 near the Charlotte-Sarasota county line, Kowalski told a Charlotte County 911 dispatcher what she was witnessing in the dark-colored Camaro alongside her, reportedly driven by suspect Michael King. Kowalski said she saw someone banging on the window and screaming. The car turned onto Toledo Blade Boulevard during her conversation.
Denise's body was found two days later off Toledo Blade, near Interstate 75.
The CCSO did not relay Kowalski's information to North Port police until then, when local investigators requested it. North Port only learned about Kowalski after she called city police to see if they were interested in what she witnessed. Kowalski maintains that following her nine-minute 911 call, Charlotte County has never tried to call her again for any additional information.
King, 37, of North Port, was charged with Denise's abduction, rape and murder. His trial is set for August.
"Last year, I learned that when Denise's story was told to a group of dispatchers, there wasn't a dry eye in the room. Even the instructor had a difficult time continuing the class," Nathan said. "Denise should be here with our two boys (Noah, 3, and Adam, 19 months) today. I will take every opportunity offered to explain that more needs to be done about the broken 911 system.
"This is an opportunity for our organization to reach across state lines and let our country know that the foundation's ultimate goal is to increase the level of training for 911 call takers and dispatchers, eventually making these standards mandatory," he said. "We hope to gain a working relationship with the state of California, which already has increased levels of training."
Garofalo, a fire captain in Pasco County, said first responders should be afforded additional training.
"No one should ever worry when they call for help that a 911 operator, a police officer or firefighter is not properly trained," he said.
For more information about the Denise Amber Lee Foundation, visit www.deniseamberlee.org.
E-mail: eallen@sun-herald.com
By ELAINE ALLEN-EMRICH
North Port Community News Editor
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Mark and Nate
Are heading out to San Diego as I type.
Pray they fly safe. I know it seems a little over the top but I truly am worried about them. Before Denise died I wouldn't normally be this nervous. But since she died I don't think anything can shock me.
Anyhow, I'm so excited for Nathan and I'm very proud of him. Nathan, Mark, Dave Dignam of Key Agency and David Garofalo a North Port City Commissioner flew out there together to represent the Denise Amber Lee Foundation. They are going to the CalNENA convention where Nathan is slated to be the keynote speaker.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with NENA it stands for National Emergency Number Association. And the "Cal", of course, refers to California.
Many people in California have been in touch with Nathan and Mark since Denise's tragedy. We have received mail and emails from all over the world and as far away as Australia (thinking of you Mark S and Tracie H).
California's support has been overwhelming. Apparently they are doing all they can to continually improve their 9-1-1 system. Nathan's speech is to last close to 40 minutes along with an introductory video about Denise and what went wrong.
Nathan's been practicing his speech at our local church that seats 1,000. He believes he'll be speaking to 600 9-1-1 industry persons. I'm so proud of him and I know Denise would be too. He does so well. This is the kind of stuff that keeps him going.
The babies keep him going but..... this is quite different. We're all simply doing our best to see that Denise's tragedy didn't happen in vain.
The creep/murderer/rapist killed Denise but the flaws in our local 9-1-1 center directly led to her death. She would've been saved.
For those of you who don't know, Denise somehow managed to call 9-1-1 using the Michael King's cellphone. For 7 (seven) minutes Michael King didn't realize that 9-1-1 was on the line and they could hear Denise pretending as if she's talking to him. Saying things like "I can't see!" "Who are you?" "Please take me home to my babies. They are alone!" "My name is Denise Amber Lee" etc.... Then tragically he realized he couldn't find his phone and the call was abruptly ended. Because Denise had 9-1-1 on the cell phone for 7 minutes we believe she thought she was going to be found. Sadly, the technology that could have saved her is available but it's not being used. With more and more people using cell phones, we believe it's imperative they put inexpensive GPS units in all cell phones. The thing is it's not that expensive.
I've blogged enough about what happened in the Charlotte County's 9-1-1 center. That will all come out one day I'm sure. If you're interested and don't know the details I've posted them previously. They messed up royally in many many ways. They had a caller on the line giving cross streets but they didn't dispatch a car! Oh, I won't go there. And they seemingly ignored 3 crucial BOLOs. (Be On the Look Outs).
So, yes, we believe that better training, better pay for a better quality personnel, better standards and using leading edge technology in our 9-1-1 centers will definitely save lives. There are too many tragedies.
Right now Florida residents are paying 50 cents per month on their cell phone bills for 9-1-1 service. Gee, who wouldn't pay a $1 more? $12 more a year for life insurance.
Also, the general public needs to know what works and what doesn't work.
Now I'm writing a speech. After he gives his speech on Tuesday, I'll ask him if I can print it here for y'all to see.
I'm going to miss Mark. I don't like being without him. I miss him already:o(
Pray they fly safe. I know it seems a little over the top but I truly am worried about them. Before Denise died I wouldn't normally be this nervous. But since she died I don't think anything can shock me.
Anyhow, I'm so excited for Nathan and I'm very proud of him. Nathan, Mark, Dave Dignam of Key Agency and David Garofalo a North Port City Commissioner flew out there together to represent the Denise Amber Lee Foundation. They are going to the CalNENA convention where Nathan is slated to be the keynote speaker.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with NENA it stands for National Emergency Number Association. And the "Cal", of course, refers to California.
Many people in California have been in touch with Nathan and Mark since Denise's tragedy. We have received mail and emails from all over the world and as far away as Australia (thinking of you Mark S and Tracie H).
California's support has been overwhelming. Apparently they are doing all they can to continually improve their 9-1-1 system. Nathan's speech is to last close to 40 minutes along with an introductory video about Denise and what went wrong.
Nathan's been practicing his speech at our local church that seats 1,000. He believes he'll be speaking to 600 9-1-1 industry persons. I'm so proud of him and I know Denise would be too. He does so well. This is the kind of stuff that keeps him going.
The babies keep him going but..... this is quite different. We're all simply doing our best to see that Denise's tragedy didn't happen in vain.
The creep/murderer/rapist killed Denise but the flaws in our local 9-1-1 center directly led to her death. She would've been saved.
For those of you who don't know, Denise somehow managed to call 9-1-1 using the Michael King's cellphone. For 7 (seven) minutes Michael King didn't realize that 9-1-1 was on the line and they could hear Denise pretending as if she's talking to him. Saying things like "I can't see!" "Who are you?" "Please take me home to my babies. They are alone!" "My name is Denise Amber Lee" etc.... Then tragically he realized he couldn't find his phone and the call was abruptly ended. Because Denise had 9-1-1 on the cell phone for 7 minutes we believe she thought she was going to be found. Sadly, the technology that could have saved her is available but it's not being used. With more and more people using cell phones, we believe it's imperative they put inexpensive GPS units in all cell phones. The thing is it's not that expensive.
I've blogged enough about what happened in the Charlotte County's 9-1-1 center. That will all come out one day I'm sure. If you're interested and don't know the details I've posted them previously. They messed up royally in many many ways. They had a caller on the line giving cross streets but they didn't dispatch a car! Oh, I won't go there. And they seemingly ignored 3 crucial BOLOs. (Be On the Look Outs).
So, yes, we believe that better training, better pay for a better quality personnel, better standards and using leading edge technology in our 9-1-1 centers will definitely save lives. There are too many tragedies.
Right now Florida residents are paying 50 cents per month on their cell phone bills for 9-1-1 service. Gee, who wouldn't pay a $1 more? $12 more a year for life insurance.
Also, the general public needs to know what works and what doesn't work.
Now I'm writing a speech. After he gives his speech on Tuesday, I'll ask him if I can print it here for y'all to see.
I'm going to miss Mark. I don't like being without him. I miss him already:o(
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)