APCO Responds to ‘Negative Stories’

The Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO) has issued an e-mail “Alert” to its members saying it wants to reiterate its support “for the life-saving work of 9-1-1 call takers and dispatchers,” in the face of recent negative stories. Without explaining which incidents or criticism is involved, APCO president Chris Fischer said that in a “perfect world,” dispatchers can determine a caller’s exact location, and emergency units arrive immediately. “Although the system works seamlessly thousands of times a day, the public is generally unaware of the numerous people, the complicated networks, the policies and procedures and the technological struggles that are involved in each and every call,” she added. See the entire alert after the break.

Here is the text of the alert that APCO e-mailed to its members.