Concept Seating Proudly Supports The Denise Amber Lee Foundation

POSTED: October 21, 2021

Concept Seating design is driven by the idea that ergonomic seating improves workplace performance, which is vital in surveillance and control rooms, as well as 9-1-1 call centers.  That’s why we’re thrilled about our recent partnership with The Denise Amber Lee Foundation, an impactful non-profit organization making beneficial changes in the public safety industry.

If you aren’t familiar with them, we highly recommend reading their origin story for a first-hand account of the heart-wrenching event which prompted the launch of the Foundation. Continue scrolling for our shorter, inferior synopsis.

Tragedy Hits Home


In January of 2008, 21-year-old Denise Amber Lee was abducted from the back porch of her North Port, Florida home in broad daylight, while she was home with her two children. At the time of the abduction, Denise had been cutting the hair of her older son, Noah (age 2). Fortunately, neither of the young boys were taken or physically harmed.

In the hours that followed the abduction, an enormous cooperative search was launched by area law-enforcement agencies. Somehow during that time, Denise managed to use her captor’s cell phone to call 9-1-1. Additionally, at least four other 9-1-1 calls were made regarding the incident, including one from an eye-witness who remained on the line for more than nine minutes providing detailed location information as she followed the captor’s vehicle.

There were at least four patrol vehicles located within one mile of the ongoing crime being relayed by witnesses, but none of them were dispatched.

Denise’s body was found two days later.

Communication Breakdown

Why? How was it possible that none of the nearby law enforcement officers were sent to the known location of a violent crime-in-progress? It was later determined that the source of this bewildering fact was related to inefficiencies in the local 9-1-1 call center.

Never Again

It’s impossible to know for certain whether Denise’s tragic death would have been avoided by better 9-1-1 center performance, but her husband Nathan has since made it his mission to prevent other families from having to wonder the same thing.

The Denise Amber Lee Foundation now helps improve the nation’s Public Safety industry by hosting training summits, promoting standardized protocols, assisting the quality assurance of call center training programs, and consulting about the technology and equipment used by call centers to optimize performance.