On March 7, Richard Montoya Jr., a public safety telecommunicator with the Los Angeles Police Department, attended President Biden’s State of the Union Address as the guest of Representative Norma Torres (D-CA). Rep. Torres selected Mr. Montoya to highlight the lifesaving work of 9-1-1 professionals and raise awareness of the need to fix the federal government’s occupational classification system by designating 9-1-1 professionals as a “Protective Service” rather than “clerical” occupation.

Tuesday, August 6
6:30 - 9:30 p.m.
Universal Studios Florida

Join us for the APCO 2024 Block Party! Enjoy the thrill of a lifetime at Universal Studios Florida. APCO attendees will be given the red carpet treatment and an experience you won’t get anywhere else! Register on Flash Day, April 1.

The entries for this year's NPSTW (April 14-20) contest have been rolling in! There's still time to submit yours. Tell us what is your ECC's movie, give us a plot summary, then let us know why you chose it. The last day to enter is April 22.
Enter the contest

APCO received final approval from the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) on February 27 for the revision of APCO American National Standard (ANS) Public Safety Communications Incident Handling Process. The revision of this standard identifies the steps and decision-making points that should be considered while processing public safety requests for service.
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The APCO online course Disaster Operations and the Communications Center educates public safety telecommunicators on a wide range of man-made and natural disasters, the effects on the community and its infrastructure, and the response and recovery needs of each. Discussions also include information on overall emergency management and homeland security.

Students are given expert guidance on the continuity of emergency communications center operations during disasters, including fires, floods, tornados, terrorist acts, pandemics and more. The cost for the online course is $277 for APCO members and $321 for non-members. Worth 8 CDEs.

Register for an upcoming online course: March 13 - April 2 | April 17 - May 7 | June 19 - 9 | More dates

APCO seeks volunteers for the following working groups:

• Revise APCO/NPSTC Standard for Channel Nomenclature for the Public Safety Interoperability Channels. The deadline is April 7.
• Create an APCO American National Standard (ANS) titled, Minimum Technical Requirements for Remote Support to Emergency Communications Center Operations. The deadline is April 1.
• Revise APCO ANS Core Competencies and Minimum Training Standards for Public Safety Communications Quality Assurance Evaluators. The deadline is March 24.
• Revise APCO ANS Core Competencies and Minimum Training Standards for Public Safety Communications Instructor. The deadline is March 24.

Join a working group

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) recently published an update to the Public Safety Communications Cyber Resiliency Toolkit. This toolkit is a CISA collaboration with public safety, national security and emergency preparedness communities to enhance seamless and secure communications to keep America safe, secure and resilient. This interactive graphic displays components of the emergency communication ecosystem to assist in identifying key cyber threats, identify ways to improve resiliency and develop plans for mitigating the effects of potential cyber threats.

View the toolkit

Online Courses

• Emergency Medical Dispatch, 5th Edition (32 CDEs)
  March 20 – April 30 | April 10 – May 21
• Customer Service in Today's Public Safety Communications (8 CDEs) 
  March 20 – April 9 | May 8 - 28
• Public Safety Communications Staffing and Employee Retention (8 CDEs):
  April 10 – 30

 Virtual Courses

• Crisis Negotiations, 2nd Edition (8 CDEs)
  April 2 
• Law Enforcement Communications, 1st Edition (32 CDEs)
  April 16 - 19
• Communications Center Manager, 1st Edition (24 CDEs)
  May 14 - 16

 In-Person Courses

• Concord, North Carolina: Active Shooter Incidents for Public Safety Communications, 2nd Edition (8 CDEs). April 23 or April 25
• Arlington, Texas: Fundamentals of Next Generation 9-1-1 (16 CDEs). May 1 - 2
• Kewanee, Illinois: Active Shooter Incidents for Public Safety Communications, 2nd Edition  (8 CDEs). May 7 or May 8
• Huntsville, Alabama: Communications Center Manager, 1st Edition (24 CDEs). May 20 - 22
• Fairfax, Virginia: Fundamentals of Next Generation 9-1-1 (16 CDEs). June 27 - 28

 Additional course topics and dates are available. See the course schedule

Eventide Communications’ NexLog DX-FIPS recorders achieve JITC certification

City of Winchester Selects  Federal Engineering for  Evaluation of Public Safety Software