Major legislation to fund the transition to Next Generation 9-1-1 has been introduced in Congress. However, we need to urge the U.S. Senate to provide the full funding public safety needs to ensure nationwide coverage, interoperability and cybersecurity. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer can increase the funding to $15 billion, and we need your help to convince him.
Step 1: Call Senator Schumer's office at (202) 224-6542. Tell the office who you are, where you're from and deliver a simple request: "Please fully fund Next-Generation 9-1-1."
Step 2: Use our website to send letters seeking additional support.
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Learn how to operate your ECC from anywhere during the Emerging Technology Forum session, “Untethering the ECC: ECC Operations from Anywhere.” Register now for the event November 2-4 to hear how Alexandria City and Arlington County have made significant advances in remote ECC operations. Learn more and register.
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Help a colleague in need by donating to the Public Safety Foundation of America (PSFA) Sunshine Fund. A Sunshine Fund grant provides financial assistance to public safety communications professionals who experience a life-altering event that places a significant financial burden upon them or their immediate family. APCO members may nominate a colleague as a recipient using the Sunshine Fund Request Form. To make a donation, please send a check, payable to the “PSFA Sunshine Fund", to the APCO Accounting Department.
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APCO has filed a Project Initiation with ANSI and issued a call for participation for work group members to participate in the creation of an ANSI standard titled Non-9-1-1 Call Processing and Dispatch. As new services become available to the public, emergency communications centers will be tasked with receiving and processing calls from sources other than 9-1-1 requiring new policies and procedures. If you are interested in participating, please complete the online application by October 24.
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APCO is seeking comments for the candidate American National Standard (ANS) for Public Safety Telecommunicators When Responding to Calls of Missing, Abducted and/or Sexually Exploited Children. This standard has been designed to serve as best practice guidelines and operational models in support of emergency communications center personnel when responding to incidents of missing, abducted and/or sexually exploited children. The standard will include procedures for effectively and efficiently processing these calls for service as well as resources available to telecommunicators and law enforcement.
Learn more
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Only one week remains to submit your applications for the next Certified Public-Safety Executive (CPE) Program (Class 12), which begins in January 2022. All applications must be submitted by Friday, October 15, at 5 p.m. ET.
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The APCO course, Crisis Negotiations for Telecommunicators, educates public safety communications professionals on the most effective way to receive and process calls involving crisis situations to ensure they fulfill their role as a vital component of the overall public safety response. Topics include hostage situations, suicidal subject situations, crisis negotiation tools, and the skills and characteristics of a successful telecommunicator negotiator. Crisis-related stress management is also addressed. Worth 8 CDEs. Register now for the live one-day course delivered online in real-time on November 9 in the APCO Virtual Classroom.
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The following agencies received APCO Agency Training Program Certification, a Project 33® Initiative:
Public safety agencies use the APCO International Agency Training Program Certification as a formal mechanism to ensure their training programs meet APCO American National Standards (ANS). Initial and continuing training for public safety telecommunicators is important as they provide essential services to the public in an expanding and rapidly changing environment.
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All new topics for 2022 have been added to all three tracks of APCO Illuminations – CTO, EMD and general. Earn CDEs with an annual subscription.
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Ben Homes began his public safety career as a public safety telecommunicator for several towns in  Massachusetts before being hired by the Massachusetts State Police as a radio technician in 2014.
In 2019, Homes was promoted to Radio Engineer and has responsibilities that include providing technical assistance to the MSP radio shops.
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The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jordan Rufus, Sheana McMichael, Jazmin Hicks and Shyrell Hubbard completed their training and began their professional careers evaluating calls concerning crimes, fires and medical emergencies.
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Ink Link
Short staffed though they are, the telecommunications staff is the eyes, ears and often brains that keep emergency response running smoothly in Manchester, New Hampshire.
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Blake T. Haskell passed away September 30, 2021, at South Shore Hospital in Massachusetts with his wife Deb by his side. Haskell started at Boston EMS as one of the first EMT telecommunicators that co-occupied the Boston Police Department "Turret" in the 1970s. From there he went to work for the city of New York Office of Telecommunications Control where he oversaw the city's new 800 Mhz citywide radio system.
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