January 28 | 1:00 p.m. ET

Free for members and worth 1 CEU

As a new wave of COVID cases take hold, emergency communication centers are feeling the pressure. Centers that were already experiencing staffing shortages before the outbreak are now dealing with surging call volumes, with even fewer telecommunicators to handle the phones. Are you and your staff under growing pressure to do more with less? Join us for this training webinar as we share time-saving tips that will help your PSAP maintain high morale and operate smoothly during these challenging times.

Register.

Sponsored by NICE

APCO's annual PSAP and Technology Awards program is now open and ready to accept your nominations. The APCO awards honor the everyday heroes in public safety communications, as well as ECCs that exemplify technological excellence. All award winners will be honored at our Annual Conference and Expo  taking place August 15-18 in San Antonio, TX.

Make sure your hard work, and the work of your ECC, is honored and recognized. Submit a nomination before the deadline, April 1.

If your goal for 2021 is to grow professionally, you could receive financial assistance by applying for an APCO scholarship. The Silent Key and CAC Scholarships awarded close to $98,000 to APCO members in 2020. Funds from the scholarships can be used toward APCO Institute courses and programs, including the Registered Public-Safety Leader (RPL) Program and the Certified Public-Safety Executive (CPE) Program. The deadline for general scholarship applications is March 31; CPE Scholarship Program applications must be received by February 15. Learn more.

The APCO Virtual Classroom added two additional courses, offering real-time, adjunct instructor-led interactive classes for public safety communications professionals: 

• Communications Training Officer (CTO), 5th Ed.  January 25-27, 2021
• Communications Center Supervisor (CCS), 5th Ed.  February 22-24, 2021

APCO members get discounted tuitions. Learn more about the APCO Virtual Classroom and view a schedule of upcoming courses.

On January 7, APCO filed comments with the FCC in response to the Twelfth Annual Report to Congress on 9‑1‑1 Fee Diversion. APCO reiterated earlier comments that 9‑1‑1 fee diversion is a harmful practice that must end but explained that the higher goal is ensuring 9-1-1 has the funding it needs, regardless of whether the funding comes from fees on phone bills, state general funds or other sources. Similarly, APCO encouraged the FCC to focus on the overall sufficiency of 9‑1‑1 funding and making the annual reports more useful. APCO suggested the FCC should use its annual reports to build a more comprehensive picture of the funding needs for 9-1-1 across the country.

Now more than ever, your agency needs to be ready for the latest developments in emergency communications technology, equipment and regulations. The Tech Forum may be over, but the opportunities to learn continue. Watch all 19 presentations at your own pace and earn valuable CEU credits along the way.

Full/Associate APCO Members:  $25
Non-members or Online APCO Members:  $200
Commercial Members:  $300

Join us for a personalized no-cost demonstration of APCO IntelliComm®, guidecard software supported by IBM Watson Analytics. IntelliComm provides on-demand dispatching with configurable guidecards. It also offers a unique supervisor dashboard with visual heat maps, graphs and numerical data on calls, incident locations, plus staff performance details. Demos may be scheduled online, or contact Shellie Johnson at johnsonsh@apcointl.org or call (386) 322-2500 for more information.

We reached out to women in public safety leadership roles to discuss the challenges they’ve faced and provide advice for future leaders. In the coming months, APCO will highlight these interviews online and in our publications. Read the first installation.

Sarah Hills, Emergency Communications of Southern Oregon, Lead Dispatcher, CTO, RPL, APCO Awards Committee Chair

• Public safety dispatcher for 13 years (November 2007)
• APCO member since November 2012
• APCO RPL designation since 2015
• RPL facilitator
• Current APCO Awards Committee Chair