Nate Lee – the husband of Denise Amber Lee, who in 2008 was kidnapped, raped and murdered by Michael King – and his family struggled with the state’s decision to make public Denise’s call to 911 on her killer’s cell phone just before her death.

But Lee also credits public access with making a difference when it came to reviewing the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office bungling of the call that some believe could have helped save her life.

“I’m not really a big fan of this bill,” Lee said. “I think it’s a bad bill.”

Read the full story here.

On February 11th, police say, a man in a blue van abducted the girl while she was walking to school with her sister.

She managed to get away, and got help from a city parks employee on the west side.

Not long after that, police tracked down her accused abductor Steve McPherson, thanks to witnesses who got a partial license plate number.

This frightening ordeal came to a safe ending, thanks to good police work and witnesses working together.  A partnership that can clearly be heard on the 9-1-1 calls recorded that day.

See the video of this story below:

According to Orlando police, the incident began Friday at about 1 a.m. when Richard Douglas, 23, and Christopher Stokes, 21, grabbed the boy from a taxicab as his father was unloading belongings from the cab at a Motel 6 in Orlando.

Officers responded to the motel after the brother of the boy’s father called police and reported the kidnapping.

The father, George J. Davis, told investigators that the two men threatened him, saying, “Don’t move – give me your son,” then snatched the boy from the front seat of the cab, according to police reports.

Read the full story here.

The Domestic Violence Intervention™ training program was held at the Grafton Police Department in Grafton, Massachusetts. Local media covered the program and interviewed  Kurzenknabe about the importance of domestic violence training.

“Unfortunately, emergencies don’t come in nice neat packages,” said Kurzenknabe. “When you’re a police dispatcher, you have to do a lot of things and think on your feet — and this training allows them to do that.”

Read the full article here.

Jennifer Paulson herself had called 911, pleading for help, just days before she was fatally attacked.

Paulson: “I have an anti-harassment order out on somebody who is following me right now.”

911 dispatcher: “He’s still following you?”

Paulson: “He is, yeah. He’s right behind me.”

That call came in on Feb. 19 as Paulson was being followed by the man who would eventually kill her. From her car, Paulson tells the dispatcher Jed Waits, who has stalked her for years, was waiting for her outside her school.

Read the full story here.

The paramedic, Karl Harris, 45, told jurors it was “physically impossible” to help 59-year-old Barry Baker after he collapsed at home in Brighton, East Sussex. Prosecutors allege Mr Harris told his colleague Ben Stokes not to bother resuscitating Mr Baker and that he told a series of lies to cover his tracks.

Guidelines applying to ambulance clinicians state that “vigorous resuscitation attempts must be undertaken whenever there is a chance of survival, however remote,” the court was told.

Prosecutor Mr Barton said: “This defendant was fully aware of this. On that night, he ignored all training and all of his experience and he made a snap decision.

“That snap decision was that Barry Baker was already dead and so he would not try to resuscitate him.”

To read more, click here.

Footnote: Although officially the U.K now uses metric units to measure mass (weight), the stone is still commonly referenced when describing a person’s weight. One stone is equal to 14 pounds.

The debate has received fresh attention in the wake of a recent incident in North Carolina. A woman called 9-1-1 after finding her daughter beaten to death in her driveway. After hearing a replay of her 9-1-1 call on a local news broadcast, she became so distraught that she vomited.

Missouri, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wyoming already keep 9-1-1 recordings private. Lawmakers in Alabama, Ohio, Wisconsin  and Florida are now looking at enacting similar legislation.

Supporters of this legislation say that making 9-1-1 calls public may scare people from calling the service for fear of their calls being publicized. Opponents of keeping 9-1-1 calls private say that prohibiting their release will allow government agencies to cover up calls where errors were made.

Several recent news stories on this topic are linked below:

States eye ban on public release of 911 calls (AP)

Florida House Weighing Ban On Releasing 911 Calls (CBS4)

Wisconsin lawmakers debating whether or not to release 911 emergency calls (Pierce County Herald)

Editorial: Silencing 911 Calls (Orlando Sentinel)

Poll: Would you still call 911? (Tallahassee Democrat)

Ninety dispatchers attended "Protecting Law Enforcement Responders," taught by Deb King, in Amherst, MA last week.

On Monday, February 22, and Tuesday, February 23, the Amherst, Massachusetts Public Safety Communications Center hosted 90 professionals from across the state at a training course aiming to help 911 Dispatchers better identify threats to Officers and establish a safer environment for both callers and law enforcement responders alike.

I shot this video on my camera phone at the Marine Corps Air Station, in Iwakuni City, Japan, during a weeklong Advanced Public Safety Dispatch course.  Marines are trained to handle almost anything - but from the looks of it, they can’t stomach a birthing video! 

You can register here to post your video footage and photos taken during a PowerPhone course.

•  Know the signs of a heart attack: pain in the chest, neck and arms, chest tightness, shortness of breath, nausea and extreme fatigue
•  Never assume: A heart attack can happen to anyone, at any age.  Heart disease is the third leading cause of death among women aged 25-44 years and the second leading cause of death among women aged 45-64 years.
•  Stay current: Make sure your dispatcher’s are up to date with their Emergency Medical Dispatch certification and CPR protocols
• Know your community: Familiarize your organization with locations of local hospitals and clinics.  This is essential in bad weather situations, desolate areas or when it may be difficult to get a responder to the victim quickly
• The Journalistic- Investigative approach: Find out as much information as possible such as who is home, age of the victim, etc.
• The Where within the Where: Is this person in a retirement community?  Is there one centralized address with numerous apartment numbers?  This information is critical, as precious minutes can be lost trying to pinpoint a precise location.
• Communication: Encourage inter-office conversation.  Employees who talk to one another, have an easier time dealing with Critical Incidents, such handling heart attack or suicide calls.
• Training: Encourage your agency to send your call takers to Stress Identification and Management courses.  These classes are designed to help your dispatchers cope with the daily challenges they face.  Less stress = less risk of a heart attack for your employees.

Knowing the signs, symptoms and how to handle heart attack calls are an essential part of crisis communications training and instrumental in saving lives.

• Has your dispatch center done anything to highlight the importance of American Heart Month? 
• Can you offer other agencies suggestions to maximize the safety of heart attack victims?