Sunday
Registration Kicks Off Conference
Attendees arrive from around the world
Record vendor attendance at 64th conference
Award winners announced
by Gary Allen, Editor
The historic city of Albuquerque is filling up with public safety dispatchers, in preparation for the 1998 annual conference of the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials--International (APCO).
Nestled along the Rio Grande River and shadowed by the Sandia Mountains, the city virtually defines early colonization of what is now America, and which back then was Nuevo Mexico. The city's residential neighborhoods mirror what has happened since--some homes are updated duplicates of brown adobe structures of the 1600s, while the house next door might have Sears aluminum siding and a satellite dish. The rest of the town exhibits these same contradictions. But you can't help but love the diversity of this city's people (you feel very worldly being here), the variety of sights, and be thankful to have the opportunity to experience it all while attending the conference.
Headquartered on the seventh floor of the city's oldest (but remodeled) La Posada Hotel just a block from the convention center, I'll attend tomorrow's kick-off noon luncheon (it used to be a breakfast), and many of the 75 seminars that are planned. One seminar looks particularly interesting--security planning for Princess Diana's funeral. There are also 246 registered exhibitors at the trade show in 623 booths, scheduled to open Tuesday morning. I'll also be visiting the Albuquerque police department and Bernalillo County sheriff's comm centers during the week.
The conference is the first for APCO's recently-hired executive director, Chris Bevevino. In his written greeting, he said, "I have heard about the excellent conferences held in the past," and added that he expects this year's "to be as educational, informative and entertaining as those that preceded it."
As always, the conference activities are largely producted by the host city's volunteers. In this case, volunteers were recruited from all over the state--the program co-chair is Elain Young, of rural San Juan County in the northwest corner of the state, and the exhibits chair is Art Rios of tiny Mesilla Valley Dispatch outside Las Cruces.
Thousands of attendees will eventually be registered for the conference. As I drive around the city, I see hundreds of people wearing the familiar conference lanyard around their necks, with their APCO name tags plastered with stickers and pins collected from cities that will host future conferences. These cities have booths adjacent to the registration desk and give away freebies to promote their city and advertise its attractions. The more pins you can collect, the better. In fact, I heard several conversations between persons trying to trade pins so they could add to their collection. By the way, next year's conference will be held in Minneapolis, under the theme "L'Etoil du Nord," or Star of the North.
At one corner of the registration area was a large poster on a stand,
and within the registration materials was a flyer that spotlight the persons
who will receive APCO's annual awards during the conference. Beginning this
year, the association is giving awards in four different categories, both
for overall work and for outstanding achievement on a specific incident.
Here are the overall winners:
International Telecommunicator of the Year
Brenda Cantu, Commmunications Officer II, Washington State Patrol
She "personifies the type of employee any of us envisions as a leaders on our staff," said Sandra Saffell, the communications director who nominated her. (APCO photo)
Communications Director of the Year
Lynn Boydston, Travis County (Tex.) Sheriff
"She is completely dedicated to saving lives, officer safety and managing a staff of well-trained emergency dispatchers," said Tracy Hilll, dispatch coordinator at TCS.Line Supervisor of the Year
Brenda Kasun, Prescott (Ariz.) Police Department
"Brenda has shown remarkable endurance and stamina in the face of professional adversity," said Michelle Griess, lead dispatcher at Central Yvapai Fire District. Kasun was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis several years ago.Technician of the Year
Lynn Platt, Sarasota County (Fla.) Sheriff Consolidated Communications
"His unrelenting energy, enthusiasm and genuine sense of caring is always apparent," wrote Debbie Gailbreath, operations manager at SCSO comm center.
The winners for Outstanding Achievement are:
Telecommunicator
Roger Workman, Wayner County (WV)Director
Nativaidad Arrieta, Bernalillo County (NM)Line Supervisor
George Tucker Jr., Chief Dispatcher, Emergency Communications, Inc.
Village of Southampton, Long Island (NY)Technician
Delene Wolf, Tape Analyst & Technician
Albuquerque (NM) Police Department, Communications Division
We add our congratulations to all of these persons for their exemplary efforts during the past year.
Social Time
It's not all work and study. There are many opportunities to have fun during the conference. TRW will sponsor a Route 66 Party on Monday night from 8:30 p.m. to midnight in the conference center ballroom. On Tuesday night the sponsoring commercial members will sponsor MANAPCO Night at Civic Plaza from 6:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. The featured music group is the band 8 Track, and there will also be a mariachi band and native American dancers.
The keynote speaker at Monday's kick-off luncheon is Gloria Tristani, a commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission since November 1997 and, not coincidentally, a New Mexico native. Details of her speech were not available. Other seminars that look interesting include a regulatory panel with officials of the FCC on Monday morning, trends in so-called "Mayday" in-car emergency reporting systems, CALEA accreditation procedures, computer-telephone integration in the comm center, Year 2000 and wireless 911 issues, spread spectrum technology for public safety communications, status report on Project 33 (dispatcher training standards), status of 311, and a report on communications during Florida's recent fire storms.
copyright 1998, 911 Dispatch Services Inc.
