The local TV news broadcasts carried public safety communication news during the conference. First, the Salt Lake Valley Emergency Communications Center was featured on Monday when it formally cut the ribbon on its new center, and then other TV reports focused on the conference itself.

Irony Dept.: After a Wednesday seminar on how alarm companies are trying to reduce false alarms comes word that SLC PD no longer responds to burglar alarms! It cost the agency $492,000 last year to respond to a total of .003% actual burglaries. What now? Private alarm companies provide their own response, which averages 7-15 minutes vs. the 45 minute SLCPD response time previously.

Is communications security a concern for the Olympic Winter Games? Yes: during a seminar on the Utah Communications Agency Network, presenter Steve Proctor displayed photos of various tower sites-- but said he couldn't describe their location for security reasons.

The best free entertainment? It was across the street inside Crossroads Plaza during lunch hour, where the Jimmy Reed trio played jazz.

When British APCO president Kevin Robson presented outgoing APCO president Lyle Gallagher with a "Bobby" hat, Robson joked, "I finally found a use for a Motorola bag!"

Why is Houston getting Phase II early? John Melcher joked that his agency had annexed the town of Crawford-- where President Bush's ranch is located.

DISPATCH Monthly Magazine's Coverage of the
Annual APCO Conference

Full Schedule of Seminars,
New 2nd Vice President Elected

Outside the thermometer was again soaring towards the 100-degree mark, but fortunately inside the convention center it was a busy day of trade show exhibits, educational seminars, and APCO's second business session.

During the business session association executive director John Ramsey told the attendees that APCO had more active projects in-progress than any time in the group's history, and that the association benefited from a broad range of income sources. A seminar on the non-emergency, three-digit number 311 convincingly explained the benefits for non-emergency city services, but somehow didn't make the connection to 911 or public safety. And a session on the pending Phase II waiver requests submitted to the FCC by wireless carriers turned lively when John Melcher took the microphone.

Accountability

The city of Chicago has nothing but good things to say about the 311 non-emergency telephone number, but then it may not be representative.

First off, the presentation led by Richard Nowakowski of Chicago's Office of Emergency Communications, had just the barest threat of a connection to public safety communications, and then only because Chicago's Customer Service Request system is managed by the OEC, the agency that also manages the police and fire 911 system.

Second, Chicago's huge size, police response policies and public expectations arguably put it in a special class. For example, the most frequent calls to 311 are for abandoned autos, street lights out, location questions such as "What ward to I live in?", damaged or stolen garbage carts, graffiti and stray or dangerous animals.

The city consolidated several separate call center operations, including one linked to the mayor's office, and opened the Customer Service Request system, staffed by light-duty police officers and full-time personnel at new facility. They use a Motorola (SunTrack) software application to enter an incident type for each call, and then specific questions appear for the calltaker to ask. The finished incident is then electronically routed to the proper agency for handling--there are some 3,000 system users at over 250 locations using the software. The software allows the original caller to call back to find out the disposition of their incident, and is now linked to the Internet to allow on-line entry of incident reports by citizens.

The primary advantage is accountability--incidents are formally recorded, routed and tracked. Department heads can print out various reports to see how well they are handling incidents, or to spot geographic or procedural trouble spots.

The 311 number serves Chicago well because of the particular way Chicago PD responds to non-emergency incidents--they don't. CPD does not physically respond to cold burglary reports (vehicle or residential), and other similar crimes. Basically, officers respond only to emergencies.

Therefore, the city's advice to citizens is simple and effective: dial 911 for emergencies and 311 for non-emergencies of any type. So, if your street light is out, your situation will be entered in the CSR system. If you're reporting a cold burglary, the 311 calltaker will transfer you to one of the officers who works in the center, at the Alternate Service desk, who will take a phone report.

In many cities, emergencies and non-emergencies are all directed to the police department, and citizens dial the public works department or animal control for those services. In many cities, officers still respond to incidents that CPD does not. And in still other jurisdictions, police officers handle a wider variety of incident types than CPD (animals, etc.). It's not clear how 311 would benefit public safety in these cities, although it's clear it would benefit public works and animal control.

By the way, just 3% of calls to 311 end up being transferred to 911, and just 5% of 911 calls are being transferred to 311--apparently the public education campaign is successful. Lastly, Chicago Fire Department battalion chiefs dial 311 themselves from the scene of fire incidents to request building inspectors, water or other city crews, entirely by-passing the dispatchers.

Several other cities have taken a Chicago-like position, and use 311 for non-emergency city services, fielded by a completely separate call center.

[We reported earlier on 311 at APCO '98, when the late 911 executive director Greg Bishop presented a seminar on Chicago's system, and when SunTrack was still independently owned. We covered it again in 1999 at the APCO conference.]

Waiver Time

A lively afternoon panel session focused on the mound of Phase II waiver requests that have been filed by wireless carriers, and outlined various perspectives on how APCO, NENA and NASNA will be responding to them. NENA wireless implementation director Jim Goerke moderated the panel, which also included Robert Gurss, Joe Blaschka (Ad-Comm Engineering), John Melcher (Tex.), Rich Jones (Ill.) and Steven Meer (Intrado).

Gurss, legal counsel for APCO on FCC matters, outlined the waiver requests filed by each of the major carriers, and noted some previous FCC statements that set out the requirements for waivers--they must be specific, focused and limited in scope. In addition, the carriers must have concrete plans for implementation.

Based on that, Gurss said he and NENA's legal counsel worked up this summary for a waiver standard:

  • Specify the solution considered and explain why none could be used within the rules
  • Benefits outweigh the disadvantages
  • Short duration, definite termination
  • Clear path to full compliance
  • If the progress along definite path is slowed, carrier should give reasons and supply revised schedule
  • Viable fallback if first choice does not work
  • Progress reports

As for AT&T Wireless' waiver request, Gurss noted they are moving from TDMA to GSM technology, proposed to use network-based MNLS location technology for its TDMA network, and E-OTD for GSM. The issues are: what is the accuracy of MNLS? Are there alternates? What is the deployment schedule for GSM/E-OTD? He said this was the first waiver request and is the closest to a decision from the FCC.

Cingular proposes E-OTD location technology for its GSM network, with a NSS safety-net. They asked for a short-term time extension due to equipment availability and E-OTD accuracy issues. The issues are: Have all options been considered? What is the E-OTD accuracy?

Cingular also has a TDMA network, which they intend to migrate to GSM ("I heard," said Gurss. "I'm not sure that's been made public or not."). Their solution will be network-based, "with an uncertain accuracy, but certainly not accuracy that meets the FCC's guidelines." The issues: What is the timeline for TDMA replacement? Are there alternative location technologies for TDMA? What is the accuracy of interim solution?

Nextel uses the unique iDEN transmission technology, and with use A-GPS to determine location. They will miss mid and long-term deadlines, their waiver notes because of equipment delays. Gurss noted that the time extension request isn't "substantial." The issue: Is an interim solution available? By the way, APCO-NENA filed comments on the request, but did not outright oppose it, Gurss said.

Verizon, the largest national carrier, originally proposed a network location solution on their CDMA network, but has now proposed A-GPS location technology. They asked for a short-term waiver due to handset and network switch availability problems (the number of switch manufacturers is limited). Due to some peculiarities, Verizon will roll out a network solution in Chicago, St. Louis and Houston. The issues:

Sprint will use A-GPS on its CDMA network. They are "pretty close" on their handset roll-out, Gurss said. Even so, their waiver focuses on network switch availability delays. Gurss said, "In many respects has been upfront on many of these rules, in terms of trying to comply."

Gurss told the attendees to expect more waiver requests, especially from smaller, rural carriers.

John Melcher, of the Greater Harris County (Tex.) 911 Board, then explained more about the Verizon decision to use network-based location gear in Houston. But he also made a specific point on rolling out Phase II sooner than later.

"Let's get serious, folks," Melcher said. "For those of you carriers who are saying, 'Oh my God, we have 10,000 cellular sites in this country. We can't go out and put black boxes in every cell site in this country by October 1st." He noted that there is just a "handful" of applications for Phase II, and few PSAPs that are legitimately ready to accept Phase II data--Houston being one of them.

Therefore, carriers don't have to equip every cell site in the country. Instead, Melcher argued, they only have to equip 1,000 to 2,000 for location technology. "Verizon got that. They understand that argument," and said they could deal with that situation.

Rick Jones, who heads the Loves Park (Ill.) comm center, said he was baffled by the "markedly different" equipment availability dates mentioned in the waivers-- from the same stated manufacturers. He also wondered when carriers would turn on Phase II features after they start selling GPS-equipped handsets--will it be a year or longer after the first sale, he wondered. "They might sell a lot of handsets, but they're not going to work until Dec. 31, 2002."

Jones was also concerned that some waiver requests didn't include a back-up solution.

Joe Blaschka said the Verizon waiver represents "a real attempt" to bridge the gap between the final solution and how to resolve public safety's immediate concerns.

He complained that carriers have done some testing on network-based location solutions, and have concluded that they can't make the FCC's milestones. Then the location technology companies respond that until they deploy systems, "everything's just lab and beta, so we can't fine tune the systems." So, Blaschka noted, "You go back and forth, and back and forth."

He pointed to the path to full compliance and changes the carriers have made along the way. "And I believe they're doing it for cost, although the carriers would probably deny this. But I believe they're switching from a network-based to a handset-based because they're going to shift the cost from themselves to, well ultimately, their subscribers."

He wondered if very many analog phone users will give up their phones and convert to GPS models. He is also concerned with the accuracy of the A-GPS, since satellite signals are easily blocked, and there has been little testing.

Blaschka also said that, from an engineer's point of view, the MNLS solution doesn't seem to meet the FCC's accuracy requirement. He said it uses signal strength to determine a caller's location. However, he explained, signal strength isn't related to location, but rather to path loss. The underlying physics of E-OTD solutions holds up, "but using a signal strength-based approach....if you look at the underlying physics, it's not going to work."

Lastly, Blaschka asked what happens to carriers that don't comply. "What's the downside to the carriers? There is no downside as it currently stands. Do you think the FCC is actually going to pull Verizon's license....I don't think so." Ultimately, "What leverage do we have with carriers?" Even though the carriers claim to be focused on compliance, Blaschka said, "I know how that goes. The reality is that the rules don't have any teeth in them. Your incentive to comply is going to be less than your incentive to be profitable."

Fast & Furious

In his usual rapid pace, John Melcher first noted that some documents filed by carriers with the FCC claim as good as 250- meter accuracy. "There's other documents on the record now that say they're going to be luck go get 1,000." He said that for a metropolitan agency, 1,000 meter accuracy (radius, not diameter) is not sufficient. It may be sufficient, however, for a rural agency where there is just one highway or road within 2,000 meters.

He said he believes in capitalism, and is sympathetic to the carrier's arguments that they don't want to invest money in technology they will abandon within 3 to 4 years. But in the meantime, "How many lives are we talking about in two years?"

He said we should be dealing in "honest to God reality." In reality, not every PSAP is ready for Phase II. So the number of actual installation is a lot smaller than all 7,000 PSAPs in the country. In addition, Melcher said there has been many tests of location technology. "We've got test data on the record that shows we can get close to the mandate." If you take into account that most wireless calls originate from outdoors, and usually highways and roads (not parking garages and elevator shafts), Phase II immediately is not so unthinkable.

He said "hats off" to Verizon and VoiceStream who have worked with his agency to begin Phase II. Both companies admitted their location solutions wouldn't meet the FCC's requirements--maybe 120 meters instead of 100 meters. Melcher responded, "Well, if that's the best we can do, we'll take it. We'll just throw another paramedic out there in the search (for the victim)."

Melcher noted that wireless systems aren't perfect--he asked the audience how many had their calls dropped, or failed to go through in the past week. "You gotta build it to make it work," he said.

Lastly, Melcher commented on the absence of CTIA in all the current discussions. He said that early in the Phase I/II process, "CTIA was very engaged. They put a lot of resources in it--they put manpower, they put money, they put time, they put effort." CTIA participated in the consensus agreement on basic Phase I/II issues.

"After what I would call a heroic effort on the part of the CTIA, they had some management changes, and the resources dried up and went away," Melcher said. Now, there is no face-to-face interaction with the CTIA. Instead, APCO and other groups are talking directly to carriers, because the carriers recognized that "this back-and-forth stuff is not productive." He said public safety now has gained more forward momentum in the past 30 days than in the previous four years.

Steven Meer, vice president of technology for Intrado, told the audience that the biggest issue is not technology, but rather getting all of the varied stakeholders involved with Phase II to work together.

He noted that PSAPs don't have to buy all new gear to accommodate Phase II. He said that a basic, "green screen" solution is possible to display the latitude-longitude of a wireless caller. High-tech isn't required to obtain a large measure of the benefits of Phase II.

Meer noted that many of the companies working on Phase I/II, and who hold patents on proprietary technology, may not survive a delay in the roll-out of location technology. "We may have to start over," he said, after smaller companies with expertise and patents fail financially.

Last Meeting

The second business meeting of APCO last just about 40 minutes, but several important items were handled.

The voting contingent was slightly larger than Tuesday's morning meeting--perhaps 90 members.

Executive director John Ramsey gave his "State of the Association," which included the current financial snapshot:

  • Assets: $5,935,280
  • Liabilities: $4,398,168

He also noted the headquarters building construction was finished in Nov. 2000--and $600,000 under budget. It has working space for the 49 current APCO staff, but a future capacity of 70 employees.

Ramsey said the association now has the largest number of active projects in the group's history, including:

  • Project 25/34, digital radio standards
  • Project 36, CAD interface
  • Project 37, dispatcher certification
  • Project 38, Project LOCATE
  • Project 39, 800 MHz interference

Project 40, just approved by the executive council during this conference, it will focus on comm center staffing. It will be chaired by Julie Ryder, who is looking for representatives from very small comm centers, and from law enforcement-only and fire-only comm centers.

Ramsey said APCO is in the third year of a 3-year strategic plan, and outlined the current headquarters staff initiatives:

  • long-range strategic plan development
  • enhance and improve the association's publications
  • overhaul marketing strategies and customer service
  • explore new sources of revenue; the association already has diverse sources of income, but this will be expanded
  • audit the group's business practices

At that point both of the pending resolutions and their amendments were read officially for the second time. Following that, a voice vote was taken, and both resolutions and their amendments were approved by the quorum.

The vote was then taken on election of Greg Ballentine to second vice president--he was running unopposed. The quorum voted without opposition, and he came on-stage to join the other executive council members.

In other business, Diana Borash announced her candidacy for second vice president in next year's election process. It's early, but no other candidate has been announced.

Barry Luke gave kudos to the headquarters staff, but pointed out that "The staff can't say, 'No'" He expressed concern on the large number of formal projects being pursued. He urged the council to focus on only the most critical projects, so they would be handled in the best possible way.

The meeting was then adjourned, and many in the audience attended a reception given in Greg Ballentine's honor, where he talked with Gallagher and Thera Bradshaw. [APCO's photos]

Outside

Several Salt Lake area agencies displayed vehicles and equipment on the south plaza of the convention center. They included a special dive team trailer (contents) and Snow Cat from the Salt Lake Sheriff, a Salt Lake City HAZMAT truck.