Nextel originally was to sponsor the Charlie Daniels band appearance, but pulled their money weeks before the conference. Instead, they routed Rudi Giuliani to the conference. Nextel hired the former may's consulting company to work on the 800 MHz interference issue.

Oh, Drew Carey might have appeared at a non-APCO concert during the conference, but the plan was dropped when Tennessee opposition materialized.

The "Huh?!" Award goes to Thales Communications, which parked its Ibis Tek Cobra vehicle on trade show floor. So what? It's a Chevy Excursion which can be equipped with a 12.7mm machine gun. Oh, the weapon itself couldn't clear customs, a company rep said.

The "Bad Form" Award goes to Raytheon, who sent mixed signals in a Dallas Morning News story being handed out at the company's trade show booth. In the story, the company's Dale Craig claims their First Responder comm vehicle would have saved lives after the Sept. 11th attacks. In another passage, the reporter says the vehicle is Raytheon's "hope for getting a piece of $3.5 billion budgeted next year for homeland security's first-response support." Which is it-- money or lives?

Wireless microphone inteference during the town hall was not caused by Nextel.

2002 Annual Conference
Association of
Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO)

by Gary Allen

Big Guest, Big Issues

The first day of the conference kicked off with a panel discussion that APCO billed as a "town hall" meeting, chaired by former New Hampshire governor and presidential chief of staff John Sununu. It continued with panels of FCC officials discussing spectrum and wireless E911 issues, awards from the 911 For Kids program, and an earlier preview of the trade show.

APCO president Glen Nash noted that conference committee had the challenge of presenting an event that included homeland security issues, but which still focused on the everyday challenges of 911. He outlined the coming days' events and emphasized that person-to-person networking was an important part of the conference experience.

Nash said the first four students to graduate from APCO's Virtual University will receive their diplomas later this week. The program offers on-line courses in public safety communications that can be taken at the student's pace. The current graduates will receive Associate Degrees in Applied Science, but within two years the program will generate its first Bachelor's Degree graduates.

Mario Trevino, chief of the San Francisco Fire Department, gave the first address to the 9 a.m. crowd of 1,500 in the convention center ballroom. Trevino mentioned public safety communications only once (using the word "dispatcher"), but rather focused on providing public safety services after Sept. 11th. He recounted how he was personally affected by various terrorist acts in the past, and how each person in public safety has a moral obligation to be prepared for the worst type of incident.

In light of the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks, APCO temporarily changed how its annual awards are handed out. This year, the association gave awards to the comm center staffs of the New York City police and fire departments, the Arlington County (Virg.) Communications Center, and the Somerset County (Penn.) 911 Emergency Center. Each award was sponsored by a corporate APCO member, and was accepted by representatives of the centers.

Town Hall

Gov. John Sununu (right) spoke dynamically and was obviously well-briefed on the issues of public safety communications. He engaged two panels of three persons representing the government and corporate sectors. He observed that communications has clearly been, "the only significant negative part of the analysis" about the Sept.l1th response. He said there will be all sorts of "polite" political analysis. "But the fact is, if we are honest with ourselves, and take a good, honest look at what went wrong, it is that there was no capacity to interact across systems." He said before Sept. 11th, there was no willingness on the part of agencies and cities to cross over boundaries.

He said the challenge is to find, "a way to create a system of incentives and a system of cooperation, so we can all participate in the resolution of those problems."

He identified state-level responsibility as being a key solution to the communications problem. He urged state-level political action by governors and legislators to improve inter-agency communications, relying on the federal government only for funding and standards. He also suggested using private monies to solve public safety problems, by using more privately-developed and constructed networks for communications. He said privatization is common in Europe, and he claimed such a tactic in the U.S. could accelerate by five to 10 years the creation of interoperable public safety networks.

He then introduced Gov. John Engler (Mich.), U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon (Penn.) and Ron Miller, chief information officer for FEMA. Sununu engaged them in a discussion of public safety communications, including allocations and interoperability. Most of their conversation was a recounting of the need and the steps that have been taken so far. They all agreed that much more political action needs to occur before interoperability is achieved.

Engler helped get Michigan's state-wide public safety radio system off the ground, Weldon has been a long-time Congressional supporter of public safety radio, and Miller is a rather recent addition to FEMA charged with refreshing and improving its use of technology.

Weldon (left) drew the applause with his comments on public safety communications. He noted that Congress funds some $4 billion on local enforcement, but much less on fire-related operations. He said that the military should share more of its technology with public safety. "Is public safety less important than having a digital television channel on a high-band frequency?" he asked, followed by applause.

Engler and Miller agreed on the need to consider private communications resources. "It would be folly to ignore private resources," Miller said. He noted that the federal government could provide funding through grants, which would set parameters to insure the money is used to create interoperability.

The second panel consisted of Joshua Davidson of Accelera, Michael Amarosa of True Position Inc., and Ozzie Ramos of Lehman Brothers. Davidson suggested using the private sector to develop, build and deploy communications networks, and to have government buy the radios to access that network. Amarosa said he understands that many public safety agencies feel the need to own and operate their own radio system. But he added that in today's environment, it's not necessary and, in fact, private networks are common on the telephone side of public safety operations.

The first session ended with a stirring medley of patriotic and military songs by Mass. State Police Sgt. Daniel Clark.

FCC Panels

Again this year APCO legal counsel Robert Gurss moderated a panel of FCC officials to help update and inform conference attendees. He introduced Peter Tenhula, legal counsel to FCC chair Michael Powell, Sam Feder, legal counsel to Commissioner Martin, Bryan Tramont, counsel to Comm. Abernathy, and D'Wana Terry, chief of the Public Safety & Wireless Division of the FCC.

Gurss noted that APCO and 17 other groups submitted what's being called a "consensus proposal" to the FCC to help end interference in the 800 MHz band. He noted that some had suggested making the interference "Best Practices" part of the FCC's regulations. He noted that the proposal actually increases the available spectrum for public safety.

On the recent allocation of spectrum in the 4.9 GHz band, Tenhula said service rules will be coming shortly. Gurss also discussed the FCC's strange definition of "public safety" when they made the allocation. Apparently the FCC wants to give commercial interests some right to use the band in order to jump-start hardware. APCO has filed comments objecting to the new definition, saying it could complicate use of the allocation.

Gurss asked about APCO's proposal to allow competitive frequency coordination, instead of limiting various services to just one coordinator. Terry said the issue had slipped below the surface temporarily, but will shortly receive a higher priority for consideration. Panelists also said that approval of some 700 MHz coordination plans should be made soon, too.

The FCC has written letters to the "Big 6" wireless carriers asking about their handling of ALI update, cost recovery and other issues. The Commission is apparently trying to regain a handle on the status of wireless E911 issues. Tenhula said that in the current era of "Pinnochio-ism," the FCC appreciates APCO members keeping an eye on carrier reports and statistics to insure they are accurate and correct.

The FCC's Dale Hatfield is nearly finished with his report on wireless E911 issues, and it should be published next month, the panelists said. Hatfield was hired to look into claims being made by wireless carriers in connection with Phase II-- the accuracy police. His report is expected to identify problems in implementation and suggest solutions.

The panelists commented on the waivers granted to several small wireless carriers. They noted that only carriers asking for waivers received them--it was not a blanket "small carrier waiver." The FCC felt that these carriers didn't have the clout to drive research and development, and acknowledged that they had to follow the larger carriers choice of technology for Phase II. In any event, they noted that the final deadlines had not been waived, but rather the intermediate deadlines.

Gurss asked for the FCC's impression on carrier compliance with Phase II rules. Tenhula said that carrier CEOs are frequently meeting with Chairman Powell, and that Powell always mentions the Phase II issue. He said Powell is receiving "pretty strong" commitments from the CEOs, but he added, "We have to be vigilant."

The panelists said the FCC's information on PBX issues is probably "stale," and they'll need to re-visit it before moving forward.

During an audience question-and-answer session, former APCO president Joe Hanna suggested that carriers' Phase II non-compliance might jeopardize their eligibility to receive approve from the FCC. The idea wasn't entirely endorsed by the panel, but they didn't turn back the idea completely.

An audience member asked if the FCC might revisit the issue of uninitialized wireless phones. The panelists noted that they just issued rules to require a distinctive phone number to be transmitted to the PSAP. However, the FCC would rather deal with the bad consequences of uninitialized phones rather than turning them off completely. They also noted receiving a letter from a public safety agency asking for clarification: can a carrier cut off an uninitialized phone if a PSAP reports that it's being used to harass?

Project Retain

APCO's Project RETAIN, formed to study and suggest solutions to the chronic comm center staffing, has made great progress since it was started one year ago, according to a progress report the team issued today.

The group narrowed down the problems to recruitment and retention, and then devised some Best Practices that were presented to APCO's executive during the 2001 conference. The 10-page document focuses on the job classification, the hiring process (recruitment, testing and selection), compensation, staffing, recognition, working conditions and retirement. Most of the considerations under each section seem simple enough, but taken together, they form a comprehensive and standardized resource that comm centers can use to create--or revise--their personnel practices.

Under "Working Conditions," the Best Practices suggest, "Allow for employees to eat away from their workstations," and Utilize work schedules that consider agency and employee personal and family needs." The "Retirement" section suggests that the length of service time for retirement should be, "reviewed in relation to the physical and emotional demands of work in a 9-1-1/PSCC."

For more information, contact project chair Julie Righter at jrighter@ci.lincoln.ne.us.

New Faces

There were new faces all around, both among attendees and the trade show exhibitors. New sponsors appeared for various events and awards, and APCO listed 53 first-time exhibitors for the trade show, including big-time companies Cendant Corp., Lockheed Martin and Raytheon. Overall, APCO listed 284 companies exhibited their products and services.

Accelera Wireless describes itself as a 20-year company that is, "a leader in APCO P25 network deployment." The company sponsored today's town hall meeting, but has otherwise been invisible to the public safety market--it's their first appearance. Nextel made a substantial appearance on the trade show floor again this year, even as they battle with public safety and other radio users to reconfigure the 800 MHz band.

APCO opened up the exhibit hall early, and offered wine and cheese to encourage attendees to show up. Not surprisingly, the convention floor was jammed with attendees, who swooped down on booth freebies and scouted out companies to check out when the exhibit hall formally opens on Tuesday.

Special Kids

About two years ago the 911 For Kids program began recognizing children who dialed 911 for help. They continued this year by recognizing four kids from the Nashville area and presenting them with plaques at a ceremony just before the trade show preview.

Kimberly Hunt is 6 years-old and dialed 911 in Greenfield (Tenn.) after her 10 year-old sister was hit by a car. She calmly gave a Weakley County dispatcher the location and other information. Her sister was later airlifted to a hospital.

April Hay is 10 years-old and lives in Nashville. She has actually dialed 911 for emergencies twice: once when an elderly neighbor fell and was stranded on the floor for two days, and again when her own grandmother fell down the basement stairs. During the second call a Nashville PD dispatcher gave the child pre-arrival instructions, which she dutifully followed.

Paige Keith is just 4-1/2 years-old, but expertly dialed 911 from her Hermitage home when her mother was injured while moving furniture. She confirmed her address to a Nashville PD dispatcher and opened the door when police arrived.

And Kayla McLeod dialed 911 using a cellular phone when her grandmother had breathing problems. She talked to a Nashville PD dispatcher, gave the location and certainly saved her grandmother's life with her quick actions.

Check our photo album for Monday, and Linda Olmstead's photo albums.