Editorial: Make Training Mandatory

The tragic kidnap and murder of Denise Amber Lee in Jan. 2008 is being noted by her family and friends, and the subject of dispatcher performance and training is still very much an issue in her home state of Florida. But it raises the question whether training alone would have prevented her death. Read why.

Editorial

By all accounts, a single dispatcher did not take sufficient actions on a 911 call, and Amber Lee died. As is common after tragic events, the public became outraged, and there energy focused on the only place they could targert–dispatchers in general. Lee’s husband and father turned their attention to the issue of dispatcher training requirements, and learned that APCO had already been pushing legislation to standardize training. But that bill was not only unfunded, it was “unrequired.” The bill that was eventually passed failed to require any agency to do anything, let alone give them money to do it. So one year after the incident, the involved dispatcher was disciplined, and the residents of Florida are back to exactly the same point they were a year ago. And what point is that? No matter how much training you require or funding that you provide, the actions of a single person can have huge consequences, both good and bad. If dispatchers aren’t performing their jobs, people can be put in jeopardy. Mistakes, oversights, inattention and downright maliciousness can all have an effect on the public safety. But it’s still a single mistake made by a single person. It’s not an indictment of the entire system, which I should point out is operating every day with remarkably good results. So, while the friends and family of Amber Lee are justly right to be concerned, they should devote their energy to the right cause. In this case, it was one person who didn’t perform, not the entire dispatching community.

Read about Lee’s memorial activities here.

[Editor: As DISPATCH Magazine transition to a Web-only news source, it offers the chance to periodically post editorials here on dispatch-related topics. They’ll always be labeled as an “Editorial,” and I invite your feedback by way of the comments section below.]