Attendance at this year's conference is reportedly near 4,600 which is definitely a large crowd.

Ratheon picked up the Charlie Daniels concert after Nextel dropped it, and paid plenty for the privledge.

Speaking of Charlie, a select few visited him backstage before his appearance and received autographed photos. Out in the house, a seemingly unnecessary line of Metro Emergency Operations personnel guarded the stage, and two armed Metro NPD officers guarded the stage stairs.

President Nash asked for a show of hands on who had a digital-capable TV. Only 5 hands appeared among about 250 attendees.

Project 40 staffing solutions? Not so quick. The project hopes to create a formula for determining optimum staffing, but it will take at least another 18 months to generate and validate the procedures.

Ever heard of "Phase 0.5?" It's a term used by Norm Forshee to describe the pre-Phase I service they received from wireless carriers. Decimal points?!

Speaking of Forshee, he noted that even with Phase I and II in St. Clair County (Ill.), "It's still up to the TC to get the job done." We agree. Their 911 calls are 47% from wireless devices.

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

by Gary Allen

It was a busy day for conference attendees, with an 8 a.m. association business meeting, a block of exclusive trade show time, and a full afternoon of educational programs. Then in the evening, APCO threw a huge wind-ding that wrapped up with a performance by Grammy-winning singer Charlie Daniels.

The first business meeting kicked off 10 minutes late with no more than 200 members sitting in the center voting section. President Glen Nash recapped the past year, executive director John Ramsey gave a financial report, and the group took care of other official business.

Nash called that past year "exciting" and that the new buzzword seems to be "homeland security." He noted that APCO has been interested in homeland security for many years and, after Sept. 11th, fielded calls from many other organizations asking for meetings. Nash said that some groups claimed to know all about public safety, and APCO had to point out, "You need to listen to what we have to say."

He said he was proud of the APCO Foundation, and noted that it had received a $3.75 million grant from Nextel, of which just over $3 million will be made available to local agencies to support their wireless E911 efforts. APCO hopes to obtain another $20 million, possible from private groups such as the Bill and Melissa Gates Foundation, the McCormick Foundation and the Carnegie Foundation. "We'll take the money from anywhere," he said.

He said the biggest issue is now wireless E911, followed closely by PBX-911 issues. He noted that more small companies, apartment building and other campus-type locations are installing PBX gear, which means the problem of inaccurate ALI data is spreading.

As for spectrum, Nash said the association continues to try to obtain what was promised by Congress and the FCC. He noted the effect that digital TV is having on availability of 700 MHz frequencies, and that the 2006 deadline is unlikely to be met. He mentioned the 800 MHz interference issue, and that APCO and several other groups submitted a consensus proposal last week on what he called a "contentious" issue. He called Nextel initial offer "intriguing," but added that it's "unrealistic." He said APCO insists that any frequency change costs for public safety be funded from other sources.

The association's frequency coordination program continues to be the "premier" service, Nash said. He said the backlog on coordination has been completely cut. He said that APCO has petitioned the FCC to allow competition among the four coordinations for all frequencies below 512 MHz, and that the FCC should rule on the issue soon.

He briefly mentioned Project 25, which now has amassed over 1,800 pages of technical documents to set a digital radio standard. He said the program is 13 years old, and that it replaced 50 year-old analog technology. It's been expanded from the original voice standard to include data up to 384 kbps.

He mentioned Project 36 (CAD interface standard) and Project 37 (certification), Project LOCATE and Project 39 (interference), and Project RETAIN. He said that this latter project had received a $200,000 federal grant to come up with a standard method of determining comm center staffing.

Money Talk

Executive Director John Ramsey said the association had assets of $5,414,000 and liabilities of $3,924,000. Operationally, the group had income of $7,285,286 for the last full fiscal year, and expenses of $7,321,145, leaving it with a loss of $32,503. He said he was happy with the group's financial situation.

The group presented a Presidential Award to Roxanne Brown for her work chairing Project 39 looking into the 800 MHz interference issue. The association also presented a Corporate Award for Leadership in 911 Locating" to State Farm. The company, through the efforts of employee Tim Metcalf, has equipped its corporate offices with PBX gear that reports a 911 callers accurate location.

The Tennessee Chapter received the award for the largest percent increase in members during the past year. North Dakota won for having the largest percentage of its population as APCO members. The Atlantic Chapter received the award for the largest increase in membership during the year. The group also presented and voted on Life Memberships.

APCO members considered several resolutions during the business session. The first will reorganize the association's international operations, while another would make reformatting changes to the current Articles and By-Laws. The third resolution would allow APCO to make non-substantive changes to the By-Laws with a vote by the quorum, and the fourth resolution would state APCO's support for the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA).

But it was the fifth resolution that created the most debate: to raise the dues. The increase would raise a seemingly small $112,000 per year to fund what APCO says is an increasing number of projects. The association cut at least $250,000 from it administrative budget last year, but is still looking for creative ways to maintain funding important projects. There were objections that the dues increase came too quickly, and might actually cause a drop in membership, with a resulting decrease of income. APCO officials acknowledged that some members might drop out if the dues are increased-- estimates ranged from 1% all the way up to 8%.

During the discussion, Nash pointed out that the association wants to upgrade its membership management software, which would cost $231,000 up front, and $50,000 a year for software maintenance. He noted that the dues increase would not even cover the initial software purchase. He explained that the proposal had been passed by the Executive Council by a vote of 35-12-2, and confirmed that it was prepared just 72 hours before the conference. By the way, the association can increase the dues as much as the consumer price index (CPI) each year, but a larger increase has to be voted on by the quorum. He added only 8% of APCO's income is derived from member dues.

All the resolutions were read once, and will be read again on Wednesday and voted on by the members. At that time, everyone will find out if APCO decides to withdraw the dues hike proposal.

The first graduates of APCO's Virtual College received their diplomas. All of the graduates of the on-line school appeared in caps and gowns for the event, along with a contingent of Jacksonville (Ala.) State University faculty. Sarah Miller was handed the College's first diploma--she received a Master of Public Administration degree. The others received Associate in Applied Science Degrees: Lorraine Jance, Philip Morris, Gary Thomas and Carl Varnado, Jr. In addition, 12 other APCO members received their APCO International Certificate from the program.

More details on Nextel's grant of $3.75 million to the APCO Foundation last week: the fund is administered by a five-person board of directors, all appointed by the company. The fund's does not have any employees or offices itself, but instead Nextel is providing operational support for its operations. According to Nextel, qualifying entities include, "not-for-profit organizations that help to establish standards and provide education, information, technical assistance and financial support to the PSAP community.

The fund received initial grant requests from both NENA and APCO, and awarded a 12-month grant to APCO, "to establish a grant program for PSAPs needing financial assistance to upgrade their 911 systems." They also awarded a 12-month $1 million grant to NENA, "to provide technical, educational and professional information and resources to PSAPs to assist wireless implementation.

Diana Borash was introduced as the unopposed 2nd vice-president for the coming year. After she spoke, Wand McCarley (Tex.) came to the microphone to announced her candidacy for 2nd vice-president next year. After that, Barry Furey also announced he will run for the office.

By the way, former NYC mayor Rudi Giuliani will appear at Wednesday's 1:45 p.m.session titled, "Terrorism: Responding to the Call."

The end of the day featured a huge bash in the convention center ballroom that included games, music and the Charlie Daniels band.

Big Show, Big Attendance

Public Safety Training Consultants previewed a remarkable video they will release in November. It consists of 3 hours of dramatic interviews with the dispatchers who handled the Sept. 11th terrorist incidents, including those from Pennsylvania, Washington (DC), Virginia and New York City. Step-by-step, the dispatchers recreate that horrible morning when airplanes began crashing and how they instantly jumped into action. The dispatchers are articulate and thorough in their recounting. Not surprisingly, you can still see the emotion written on their faces, and at times you can hear it in their voices. From right after the incident, PSTC has been providing confidential support to the dispatchers, and they continue to conduct stress management sessions for all the involved agencies. The two-cassette set of interviews, which is professionally intercut with incident and comm center images, will cost $250 ($200 if purchased before Sept. 20). A portion of the price goes into PSTC's 9-1-1 Cares project, which partially funds the company's support efforts. Besides being a definitive archive of the dispatchers' experiences, the video is an emotional reminder of how quickly disaster can strike--and how just as quickly dispatchers can rise to the occasion. Make sure your agency buys this video! Surf their Web site.

When you're patrolling the booths, the primary criteria should be "usefulness." And so you should take a look at the software offered by Deccan Intl. for easily creating CAD response lists using information from a mapping program. You simply prepare (or purchase) the map of your jurisdiction's street network using MapInfo mapping software, complete with street directions, obstructions, speed limits and other traffic flow information. You then draw in your response districts, either police beats, districts or precincts, or fire districts. You then click on a button within the mapping software, and the program quickly analyzes the map and spits out a data file that you can then import into your CAD software. It's so quick and easy that you can re-analyze your situation any time your add stations or change district boundaries. There are many little features that make it very flexible and useful. The company also markets a real-time fire move-up analysis software that's impressive. Use this program once and you'll never guess on CAD assignments again. Surf their Web site.

Speaking of software, another unique solution is offered by Corona Solutions, which markets a Web-based CAD report generation service that is amazingly flexible and useful. The service, called CADMind, is offered as what's called an ASP, which means it's hosted remotely at the company's site and you connect via an encrypted IP connection. In short, you use a small program to export CAD incident data periodically (every 5 minutes or as infrequent as once a week), and it's stored in a database on Corona's server. You connect securely using a password and select the report you want to view or print from a menu of choices--the company will prepare any standard reports you need, or create menus that allow various options. It's very quick and easy. Want to be alerted if an incident occurs at a specific address, or if the number of incidents in a given beat/district exceeds a certain number? The software allows you to set alerts that will e-mail you with the details, and even an Acrobat (pdf) version of the report. The company charged 10 cents per record uploaded, and nothing after that. Now everyone in your organization can have access to any report they want, whenever they want it, and even have it delivered to them. Oh, the program would also allow you to create consolidated reports from several CAD systems, perhaps at different agencies, cities, counties, etc. Check their Web site for more information.

EMS Consultants, Ltd. originally developed an ambulance-based CAD program, but has subsequently added law enforcement and fire-specific features. The working screen is rather busy, with lots of check boxes, buttons and entry fields, but that's the price you pay for keeping track of more information. The program includes data fields for LifeFlight information, hot buttons for specific CAD actions, color-coded page frames (red for fire, blue for EMS, etc.), paging (full info, times only or free-text), and all the usual interfaces. If you provide non-emergency EMS services, the company also has programs for billing, collections and run tracking. Surf their Web site.

If you're on track for a new comm center building, there are now lots of architects who specialize in such structures, and who know just what to include and how to arrange the space. Allen & Sheriff Corp. promoted their design skills and showed off their past clients, all on the upper east coast. There's just no reason to try to design your own building or center these days. Surf their Web site.

The echoes of Sept. 11th are pretty obvious in the large number of vendors who are marketing in-field repeaters and signal boosters--previously they were pretty dull. TX RX Systems Inc. showed their bi-directional signal boosters to increase in-building coverage with basic models for the 450-512 MHz and 806-869 MHz bands. The company claims to be the first to develop a bi-directional amplifier in the late 1970s, and says they can provide one-way boosters in the 900 MHz band, and models powered by DC. Surf their Web site.

Aether Systems Inc. representatives spilled out into the aisle promoting their line of mobile public safety applications, including PocketBlue for law enforcement and PocketRescue for fire. The applications run on handheld devices, including those from RIM, Compaq, Symbol and Palm. For a monthly network access fee, the devices allow officers to access law enforcement databases, send messages and enter field interview information. Firefighters can link to a central records management system to track incidents, inspections, hydrants, personnel and other data. Both users can use the handheld to track names, addresses and telephone numbers. Surf their Web site.

Radio interconnects are hot, and JPS Communications Inc. offers both fixed and portable versions of the device to bring a certain amount of interoperability to communications. The fixed version is modular, so you can include the type and number of channels and features that you need. It covers land mobile, HF and satellite bands, and also links to the public switched network.

Check our photo album and Linda Olmstead's photo album.