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2008 APCO Press Releases

11/25/2008 - SAGINAW CHIPPEWA TRIBAL POLICE IMPLEMENTS APCO EMDSaginaw Chippewa Tribal Police recently implemented the APCO Institute Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD) Program. Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Police serves Mt. Pleasant and the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe Reservation.

11/17/2008 - ANSI APPROVED APCO AND NENA STANDARD PSAP-SERVICE CAPABILITY CRITERIA RATING SCALEThe Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International and the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) announced today that the American National Standard Institute (ANSI) approved the APCO and NENA standard to assist Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) managers and their governing authorities to identify their current level of service capability.

11/17/2008 - BRADLEY COUNTY (TN) 911 IMPLEMENTS APCO EMDBradley County (TN) 911 recently implemented the APCO Institute Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD) Program.  Bradley County 911 is a consolidated dispatch center serving Cleveland City, Bradley County and the City of Charleston with an annual call volume of 17,000.

11/10/2008 - APCO SEEKS COMMENTS ON ALARM MONITORING COMPANY TO PSAP DATA EXCHANGE DRAFT STANDARDThe Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International released for comments a candidate American National Standard (ANS) to provide a standard data exchange for electronically transmitting information between an alarm monitoring company and a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP).

11/7/2008 - FCC RELEASES VACATED SPECTRUM SEARCH ENGINE - AFC ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS NOVEMBER 7The FCC today released the much anticipated public notice on Sprint/Nextel vacated spectrum. The FCC permitted Sprint/Nextel to release the spectrum it must vacate in stages as band reconfiguration progresses in each NPSPAC public safety region. Sprint/Nextel has relinquished its channel holdings in the 809-809.5/854.854.5 MHz band segment in all regions (20 channels in all). These channels will be made available for licensing exclusively to public safety entities for a three-year period, and exclusively to public safety and CII entities for an additional two years.

10/31/2008 - MILESTONE REACHED IN ALARM DATA TRANSMISSIONThe Public Safety Data Interoperability (PSDI) Program announces the successful conversion of the External Alarm Interface Information Exchange Packet Documentation (IEPD) to the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) Version 2.0. NIEM is designed to develop, disseminate, and support information sharing standards and processes across the whole of the public safety, justice, emergency and disaster management, intelligence, and homeland security enterprise at all levels and across all branches of government. The PSDI program and the IEPD conversion project were funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, US Department of Justice. The PSDI program is co-managed by the IJIS Institute and the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International

10/23/2008 - APCO RELEASES MISSING CHILD RESPONSE GUIDECARDS The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International released today guidecards to aid calltakers in handling calls pertaining to missing and exploited children through its APCO Institute. The Missing Children Guidecards are based on the APCO International American National Standard, released last year, and serve as a reference specifically for emergency calltakers to present the missing and/or sexually exploited child response process in a logical progression from the initial call through the first response.

10/14/2008 - APCO PARTICIPATES IN VETERAN CAREER TRAINING The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International today participated in an orientation encouraging veterans to seek a career in public safety communications.

9/30/2008 - APCO AND NENA SEEK ADDITIONAL COMMENTS ON DRAFT STANDARD PSAP-SERVICE CAPABILITY CRITERIA RATING SCALE The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International and the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) released for comments Friday a proposed addition to a candidate American National Standard (ANS) to assist Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) managers and their governing authorities to identify their current level of service capability.

9/22/2008 - TEXAS TERT ACTIVATION FOR IKE A SUCCESS The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International and the National Emergency Number Association (NENA), the founding partners of the National Joint TERT Initiative (NJTI), today reported the results of the Telecommunicator Emergency Response Taskforce (TERT) activation in Texas following Hurricane Ike.

9/16/2008 - APCO HIGHLIGHTS IMPORTANCE OF NATIONAL BROADBAND PUBLIC SAFETY NETWORK IN HEARING TESTIMONY TODAY The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International reaffirmed their support for a public safety broadband network that meets the needs of first responders during mission-critical incidents today in a hearing before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security.

9/8/2008 - NEW JERSEY APPROVED APCO INSTITUTE PST1 COURSE The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International announced today that the New Jersey Office of Emergency Telecommunications Services approved the APCO Institute's Public Safety Telecommunicator I (PST1) online course for training its telecommunications professionals. All training courses used by its employees must first be approved by the New Jersey Office of Emergency Telecommunications Services. This body has previously approved the in-person version of PST1 and APCO Institute’s Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD) Program.

9/1/2008 - IRIDIUM MAKES DONATION TO APCO SILENT KEY SCHOLARSHIP The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International today announced that Iridium Satellite LLC has donated $17,000 to the association's Silent Key Scholarship Fund which provides current and future public safety communications professionals with training and educational opportunities in honor of deceased APCO International members.

8/26/2008 -APCO AND NENA APPLAUD FCC FOR VOIP E9-1-1 ACTION The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International and the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) today applauded the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for their adoption of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking implementing provisions of the NET 911 Improvement Act (PL 110-283) today.

8/25/2008 -APCO WINS AWARD FOR MISSING CHILD POLICY AND STANDARD The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International announced today it is being honored with the American Society of Association Executives' (ASAE) highest award.

8/18/2008 - APCO RELEASES ANSI APPROVED WIRELESS 9-1-1 DEPLOYMENT AND MANAGEMENT EFFECTIVE PRACTICES The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International released today an American National Standard (ANS) outlining effective practices for deploying and managing wireless 9-1-1.

7/23/2008 - APCO APPLAUDS ADMINISTRATION FOR SIGNING OF VOIP 9-1-1 BILL The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International applauded the Administration for signing the compromise bill requiring Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service providers to provide 9-1-1 service, including enhanced 9-1-1 (E9-1-1) service, to their subscribers.

7/15/2008 - APCO STRESSES FUNDING AS KEY TO THE SUCCESS OF THE NECPIn testimony today before the House Homeland Security Committee's Subcommittee on Emergency Communications, Preparedness and Response, APCO International stressed the importance of full funding for interoperable emergency communications grant programs and the National Emergency Communications Plan (NECP) in order for the goals of the NECP to be successful.

6/24/2008 - APCO APPLAUDS CONGRESS FOR PASSAGE OF BIPARTISAN VOIP 9-1-1 BILL APCO International applauded Congress for passing a compromise bill that requires Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service providers to provide 9-1-1 service, including enhanced 9-1-1 (E9-1-1) service, to their subscribers.

6/24/2008 - APCO ANNOUNCES 2008 TRAINER PSAP AWARD WINNER Euless (Tex.) Police Department Lead Dispatcher and Communications Training Coordinator Debra Riley-Torrez Named Trainer of the Year by APCO International

6/3/2008 - APCO ANNOUNCES 2008 TRAINER PSAP AWARD WINNER Euless (Tex.) Police Department Lead Dispatcher and Communications Training Coordinator Debra Riley-Torrez Named Trainer of the Year by APCO International

6/3/2008 - APCO ANNOUNCES 2008 TELECOMMUNICATOR PSAP AWARD WINNER Stafford County (Va.) Sheriff’s Office Communications Officer Karen Roy Named Telecommunicator of the Year by APCO International

6/3/2008 - APCO ANNOUNCES 2008 RADIO FREQUENCY TECHNOLOGIST PSAP AWARD WINNER Mobile County (Ala.) Electronics Department Director of Public Safety Communications Eric Linsley Named Radio Frequency Technologist of the Year by APCO International

6/3/2008 - APCO ANNOUNCES 2008 LINE SUPERVISOR PSAP AWARD WINNER WHITCOM Regional 9-1-1 Center Dispatch Line Supervisor Susan Waltz Named Line Supervisor of the Year by APCO International

6/3/2008 - APCO ANNOUNCES 2008 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIST PSAP AWARD WINNER Orleans Parish (La.) Communication District Systems Administrator Karl Fasold Named Information Technologist of the Year by APCO International

6/3/2008 - APCO ANNOUNCES 2008 COMMUNICATIONS CENTER DIRECTOR PSAP AWARD WINNER Tacoma, Wash. Law Enforcement Support Agency Director Thomas Orr Named Communications Center Director of the Year by APCO International

6/3/2008 - APCO ANNOUNCES 2008 PSAP AWARD WINNERS The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International today announced the 2008 Public Safety Award Program (PSAP) award winners. The awards will be presented at the Opening General Session of the APCO International 74th Annual Conference and Exposition in Kansas City, Mo. on August 4.

5/27/2008 - APCO AND NENA SEEK COMMENTS ON DRAFT PSAP SERVICE CAPABILITY CRITERIA RATING SCALE The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International and the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) released Friday a candidate American National Standard (ANS) to assist Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) managers and their governing authorities to identify their current level of service capability.

5/27/2008 - LOUISA COUNTY (VA) SHERIFF’S OFFICE IMPLEMENTS APCO EMD Louisa County (VA) Sheriff's Office recently implemented the APCO Institute Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD) Program. Louisa County Sheriff's Office provides emergency dispatch for police, fire and emergency medical services (EMS) for the city and county as well as providing some monitoring for the Virginia State Police and local school bus traffic with an annual call volume of 153,000 calls per year.

4/30/2008 - APCO CONGRATULATES NENA’S NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International congratulated the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) following their announcement today of the hiring of their new Executive Director, former AT&T Vice President Brian Fontes. APCO International works closely with NENA on 9-1-1 related issues, and has interacted with Mr. Fontes in his previous commercial sector role over the past several years.

4/21/2008 -APCO WINS ASAE’S 2008 ASSOCIATIONS ADVANCE AMERICA AWARD OF EXCELLENCE The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International today released a standard for emergency calltakers to use in handling calls pertaining to missing and exploited children.

1/22/2008 - NEW STANDARD ADDRESSES HANDLING REPORTS OF MISSING CHILDREN The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International today released a standard for emergency calltakers to use in handling calls pertaining to missing and exploited children.