EFJohnson
APCO Show Daily
Tuesday, August 6

Today begins with the Distinguished Achievers Breakfast featuring a keynote presentation from Colonel Jill Morgenthaler (Ret.), who will share leadership lessons. FirstNet Chairwoman Sue Swenson will also provide an update on FirstNet’s progress. Colonel Jill Morgenthaler (Ret.) will be in the APCO Pavilion immediately following the session for a photo opp with attendees.

APCO heads to the rodeo for tonight’s APCO Block Party! You do not want to miss the event everyone will be talking about. There will be food, music, interactive entertainment, trick riding and barrel racing. Transportation will be provided to and from all official conference hotels starting at 6:45 p.m.

 
Tyler Technologies
Airbus DS Communications, Inc.
Updates & Reminders
  • Voting for the 2017-2018 Executive Committee closes today at 2:00 p.m. MT. Election results will be announced at the Second General Business Session taking place at 4:00 p.m., in the Convention Center, Four Seasons Ballroom.
  • Don’t forget to participate in the Expo Quest; drop your card off at the APCO Pavilion.
  • Professional development sessions continue. See the full schedule here, or right in the app.
  • Join us for the 2nd VP Reception immediately following the General Business Session.
 
Stancil Corporation
Conference Coverage
APCO International and IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced today that APCO International's new guide card software called APCO IntelliComm will use IBM Watson Speech-to-Text and Watson Analytics to significantly enhance the scripted criteria guidance used by 9-1-1 emergency telecommunicators nationwide.
 
Today, APCO International announced the completion of a seminal report entitled "Broadband Implications for the PSAP." This report is the culmination of an exceptional, association-wide project known as Project 43. It provides a forward-looking analysis of emergency communications, as 9-1-1 centers across the nation transition from decades-old technology to the broadband era and beyond. The report and related materials can be accessed at www.apcop43.org.
 
The winners of the 2017 Public Safety Communications and Technology Leadership Awards were honored during Monday's Opening General Session. Sharing the inspiring stories of each recipient, APCO recognized Telecommunicator of the Year Eric Mulvaine of Barry County (Mich.) Central Dispatch, Information Technologist of the Year Ted Rufledt, Jr. of Pennington County (S.D.) 9-1-1, Line Supervisor of the Year Shawn Handel of Kitsap (Wash.) 911, Radio Frequency Technologist of the Year Tim Beuschlein of Deschutes County (Ore.) 9-1-1 Service District, Trainer of the Year Heather Hallman of St. George (Utah) Communications, Director of the Year Richard Kirton of Kitsap (Wash.) 911, and Team of the Year East Baton Rouge (La.) EMS.
 
Women in Public Safety Communications
Presenters: Gigi Smith, Karima Holmes, Angela Bowen, Athena Butler and Mary Sue Robey
 
 
 
This session was presented by a panel of five trailblazing women in public safety communications with a total of 126 years of experience. Geared towards other women in public safety communications, this session discussed various challenges faced by women working in public safety communications, offered advice on how and why to become involved in local and national associations such as APCO, encouraged women to take on more leadership roles and explained the importance of networking with other female public safety professionals. Based on the nearly 100% attendance, these are topics other women want to talk about. 

Although each panelist agreed on the importance of maintaining balance and wellness, each has different practices to achieve these. One practices yoga and doesn't skimp on sleep, one spends time with her grandson on weekends, one became a fitness instructor after losing a lot of weight and another takes an hour a day doing something she loves, like cooking or gardening. 

Recognizing that most women hate conflict, Gigi Smith encouraged participants to have courage. "Have those conversations. Be direct. Be assertive. And carry your confidence." 

This presentation will be repeated Tuesday at 1:30 p.m.
 
- Christina Dravis
 
OEC: Initiatives and Their Impact on Emergency Communications 
Presenters: Ron Hewitt, Eric Runnels, Daniel Moore, Michael Garcia and Jeffery Wobbleton

The Department of Homeland Security Office of Emergency Communications has launched several initiatives to bolster interoperability in emergency communications.  This session was presented by a panel to discuss the impact these would have on public safety.  

The National Emergency Communications Plan (NECP) was updated in 2014 for broadband and NG9-1-1. The update includes adding LTE to the LMR world. The updates focus on interoperability of field services, programs and devices with the NG9-1-1 program and devices of the PSAPs.

The NECP is attempting to achieve interoperability at all levels of communications: local, state and national. Reviews of several planned events helps OEC evaluate the plan for quality. Areas of concern were voice, data and video. Events from 2010 to 2016 were compared to see if improvements were made and how it impacted operations.

Processes reviewed included planning, event specific, public alert and warning and WEA.

Cleveland, Ohio, discussed operations during the Republican National Convention, and a similar review of the operations was also completed.

The National Governors association (NGA) gave a briefing on their assistance in getting information from OEC to the state governments. The goal of the NGA is to assist with governance policies to promote OEC efforts.

SAFECOM was discussed as a program to help locals to achieve the interoperability required to reach their goals. A new survey will be conducted on the Federal Register to capture comments on SAFECOM.  

- Michael A. Scales
 
FCC Update
Presenter: David Furth
 
This session provided an overview of the public safety issues presently before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Deputy Chief Furth began with an update on 9-1-1 wireless location accuracy, describing a number of milestones in achieved within the last year. He then described the FCC’s role in the FirstNet state opt-out process, which consists of evaluating whether state alternative plans for a Radio Access Network meet the interoperability requirements of the law.  
 
Next, Furth discussed an investigation into a nationwide AT&T 9-1-1 outage that occurred in March 2017, noting that the FCC will hold a related workshop in September. Furth also provided updates on the FCC’s tracking of text-to-911 deployment, recent action to permit carriers to transition from TTY to Real-time Text (RTT) technologies, and the FCC’s annual report to Congress on 9-1-1 fee diversion.  Before closing, Furth mentioned several issues that are still pending at the FCC, such as the use of non-service initialized devices for emergency calls, public safety use of the 4.9 GHz band, and the 800 MHz spectrum rebanding process.
 
- Mark Reddish
 
Prospect of Federal Legislation for NG9-1-1
?Presenter: Jeff Cohen
?
On the day the APCO Project 43 report was officially released, Jeff Cohen’s opening remarks that "modernizing the nation’s 9-1-1 system is essential to the security of our citizens and the first responders who serve them", and "...the need for federal legislation to achieve that goal", were perfectly timed.
 
NG9-1-1 is an extremely complex solution, ?including?  lots of players with differing political, technical and operational points of view. Given ?how complex it is?, federal legislation and new funding models, including grants, will likely be required to drive it to completion.
 
For congress to agree to ?pass legislation?, practitioners and providers must convince them ?that? the following elements ?will?  be included:
 
•       Agreed-upon governance ?(do not allow silos of expertise to develop ?)?
•       Ensure interoperability (everyone can use it)
•       Encourage innovation (both small and large providers involved)
•       Must leverage widely-deployed consumer solutions
•       A funding model that does not allow for 9-1-1 funds to be diverted
•       A common definition regarding what NG9-1-1 actually is
 
This last point regarding the common definition is moving forward. Project 43 and the recent meeting between APCO President Cheryl Greathouse and NENA President Rob McMullen are taking great steps towards making the common definition a reality.
 
- Matthew Schreiner
 
With down-to-earth humor and unmistakable intelligence, General Keith Alexander (Ret.), now IronNet Cybersecurity President and CEO, spoke to APCO 2017 attendees at Monday’s Opening General Session about the state of the U.S.'s technology in terms of cyber threats and how we can solve them.
 
TC Communications
 
Verint Systems
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