APCO Conference Spotlights Award Recipients

The annual conference of the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO) begins on Monday in Las Vegas, and will spotlight the group’s annual award recipients for “the highest levels of personal and professional conduct and performance in the line of duty.” Coincidentally, with over 5,000 PSAPs in the country, two of the recipients are from the same agency–the Grays Harbor (Wash.) Communications E9-1-1 center. Loanne Travess will receive the Telecommunicator of the Year award during the conference, and Scott Sipe will be named Technologist of the Year. The awards are particularly noteworthy, since just two years ago a county investigation of a missing person incident uncovered serious management, policy and chain of command issues at the center. According to a 528-page report, the missing woman from Beaverton (Ore.) was reported as a DUI driver, but was not located until 11 days later, when her car and body were found on a rural forestry road. The investigation found that dispatchers properly handled the incident, and no one was disciplined. The victim’s husband filed a lawsuit last Dec. against the city of Beaverton, state of Oregon and Grays Harbor County alleging negligence in handling the incident. Download (pdf) the full lawsuit here.