Read all about this year's award winners for the 2017 Public Safety Communications and Technology Leadership Awards. They will also be recognized at APCO 2017 in Denver, Colorado, August 13–16.
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At the 2017 Membership Quorum meeting, the voting membership of APCO International will consider a Board-endorsed proposal to permit Online Members under the Group Membership Category to receive the discount that Full and Associate categories of membership enjoy when it comes to Annual Conference registration and online classes. For more information

Take advantage of our discounted pricing, and pre-order your official conference T-shirt by Monday, July 17. Attendees can save on shipping by using promo code APCO2017 on the final screen in the shopping cart to save $9.00. Place your order.

Maria Acevedo, Receptionist
Maria has been employed with APCO since 2008 as the receptionist. Her primary responsibility is providing excellent customer service to anyone that calls, and assisting the technology and support operations department. Not only is she a team player within her own department, but she also helps other departments with miscellaneous functions.  

Maria was born in Puerto Rico, and her parents migrated to New York City in the late 60’s with their children and resided in the Bronx. She studied business at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City, New York. She re-located from Port Jefferson, New York to sunny Florida in 2007, but will always be a New Yorker at heart.

She has been married to her husband for 27 years and has two adult children. In her free time, she enjoys swimming, speed walking, arts and crafts, and spending time with her two furry babies, Diesel and Cypher.

The nation's largest originators of emergency alerts have come together to advise the inter-industry group behind the Advanced Warning and Response Network (AWARN). Designed to work synergistically with existing alerting systems, AWARN will provide major new capabilities to improve disaster warning and recovery information for the American public.

WDBJ7 Governor Terry McAuliffe signed a letter of intent today declaring that the Commonwealth of Virginia will allow the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) and AT&T to proceed with the deployment of the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network in Virginia. "I am proud that Virginia is the first state in the nation to opt in to this program that will help our first responders communicate during times of emergency," said Governor McAuliffe.

Willams News For most people, contacting the police means dialing 9-1-1, telling the dispatcher the nature of the emergency and its location. People with speech or hearing disabilities have to go through a third party to contact police. Lake Havasu City, Arizona, implemented text-to-9-1-1 service in April and has gotten positive feedback people with hearing disabilities and other residents. "We've had a lot of positive feedback from the deaf, hard of hearing and speech impaired community," said Sgt. Tom Gray, a police spokesman. "This gives them direct and immediate access to our 9-1-1 services, but it can also be used in the event of an emergency when someone can't make a voice call."

Omaha World-Herald Sarpy County, Nebraska, resident Natalie Minnick called 9-1-1 because she and everyone else in her family suddenly had a "tummy bug." She would eventually tell dispatcher Mark Pontefract that she also had a headache and was confused. "Get everyone out of the house," he told her. Pontefract suspected that the family's symptoms could be the result of carbon monoxide poisoning; when first responders arrived at the scene they found high levels of carbon monoxide in the family's apartment. The Sarpy County Board honored Pontefract on Tuesday with the Lifesaving Award for his quick thinking.

Winnebago Awards Federal Engineering Contract for Computer Aided Dispatch Consulting Services