As a result of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) situation, emergency communications centers (ECCs) are implementing and revising SOPs to ensure continuity of operations including scenarios that address how to proceed if someone inside their centers becomes infected. Given the essential nature of ECC personnel and already widespread staffing challenges this situation can certainly present some challenges.
APCO has created a PSConnect community for members to ask questions and share information regarding the COVID-19 response and impact on emergency communications centers.
Additionally, APCO has established a webpage to provide resources for ECCs. The webpage will be updated as the situation unfolds.
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The sooner you enter your comm center in our National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week (NPSTW) 2020 contest, the more "likes" you can rack up before the contest ends on April 20. Just tell us about something that happened this year that you want to share in honor of NPSTW and you'll be entered to win $100 for your agency. While you are on the NPSTW website, don't forget to look at the other entries and "like" your favorites.
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Professional Development Events Committee (PDEC)
This committee is responsible for selecting the educational sessions for APCO's annual conference. They meet monthly and, during the peak season (December through March), they grade the submissions that have been submitted through the call for speakers held in the fall, taking into account hot topics in the 9-1-1 industry. They are able to do this only with your help. Consider signing up for this committee, and help make the next annual conference better than ever!
Editorial Committee
The APCO Editorial Committee is responsible for creating content for Public Safety Communications (PSC) magazine, the official magazine of APCO, as well as online content featured on psc.apcointl.org. Members come together to generate articles. Whether they choose to write the articles themselves or seek out authors, members need to have a passion for our profession and a desire to bring the latest information to our membership via our printed and online platforms.
The committee seeks members from all facets of public safety communications, from frontline telecommunicators to managers and directors to IT and radio personnel to commercial partners. Sign up for this committee if you wish to reach a broad audience of public safety communications professionals and have a lasting impact on the future of our profession.
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Bayside Communications Center, WI, has received Agency Training Program Certification, a Project 33® Initiative, from APCO International.
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Land Mobile Radio (LMR) systems such as APCO Project 25 and Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) have a long and successful track record providing Mission Critical Push-To-Talk (MCPTT) voice services. They provide outstanding range, reliability and direct user-to-user communications without the need of infrastructure. Recently, there have been efforts to interconnect LMR systems to cellular LTE networks in order to increase communication flexibility and add support for high data rate applications.
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News Channel 5
Public safety telecommunicators calmed frantic callers in the wake of destruction by a tornado with 125-mile-per-hour winds.
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News Star
The system delivers Band 14 spectrum, a VIP lane for public safety communications.
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ABC News
The app connects information about the route, including its current location, to public safety telecommunicators.
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The application for smart phones and tablets gives first responders access to a secure mode of location, communication and alerting features.
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K2 Radio
The 9-year-old called 9-1-1 when she found her mother unconscious. Amanda Munoz, a public safety telecommunicator with the Casper-Natrona County (Wyoming) Public Safety Communications Center, calmed the girl down by directing her to communicate through Facetime.
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ABC News
A total of 27 firefighters and three police officers were under quarantine after responding to a series of calls at a Seattle nursing home experiencing an outbreak of the novel coronavirus. In response, agencies are scrambling to round up scarce protective gear.
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4 CBS Denver
The measure would ensure that worker’s compensation covers “audible trauma” suffered by public safety telecommunicators in addition to the visual trauma experienced by other first responders.
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News-Sentinel
The $3 million plan is focused on upgrading location accuracy for cell calls and increasing the speed with which public safety telecommunicators can answer emergency calls.
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The Advocate
The girl and her aunt, with direction from a Central City, Louisiana, public safety telecommunicator, used CPR to help the mother who had suffered a heart attack.
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Fox 35
Florida telecommunicators will ask callers whether they have a temperature over 102 or have chills and if they have been in contact with anyone suspected of having the virus.
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KNDO 23
Thanks to RapidSOS, the county’s emergency communications center now receives accurate location data for 9-1-1 calls from iPhones with iOS 12+ and Android phones version 4.0. Emergency data from apps like Uber, wearables, connected homes and connected cars are also now available.
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