During an interview-style session with APCO Chief Counsel Jeff Cohen, FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel returns to APCO to offer her perspectives on how to advance public safety communications.

APCO staff and the Chair of APCO’s Health and Wellness Committee will discuss the impacts of the job and approaches to mitigating the effects of stress in ECCs.

Location matters. So does understanding the situation. Knowing the location of callers and resources is critical to providing fast and accurate response.  But accurate locations mean nothing without accurate maps to back them up along with timely data that helps telecommunicators and responders understand where callers are and what surrounds them. Learn what the future holds for mapping and GIS in emergency response, how trends in wireless location accuracy and NG9-1-1 will enrich and improve public safety mapping like never before, and how tactical mapping is evolving to become the centerpiece of emergency response.

It takes a village to deploy NG9-1-1, the California story. The 9-1-1 Branch of California Office of Emergency Services worked tirelessly with the state legislators on rule changes and funding, the CPUC, the vendors, both legacy and NG9-1-1, and the ECCs to develop a comprehensive plan for the roll-out of NG9-1-1 in California.

This session presents an examination of the cybersecurity risk landscape, recent incidents and root causes, explanation of key elements of cybersecurity, and a discussion about sector-specific threats to ECCs and emergency communications. Discussion will also include how ECCs can benefit from centralized intrusion detection and prevention and associated systems to achieve economies of scale and gain access to multiple resources, and plan for the future.

Speaker will discuss how FirstNet is leading the LMR to LTE evolution, using LTE Push-to-talk to supplement existing LMR systems. We’ll highlight how multiple agencies in the Mono County/Mammoth Lakes Fire Protection District used FirstNet to enhance their PTT capabilities; and discuss how FirstNet Push-to-Talk can improve PTT functionality.

Lt. Jim Munro has seen a lot of growth and improvements during his 22 years with the Clovis Police Department. In addition to supervising patrol shifts, he now oversees all of the technology projects for the department, including a video unit of 450 cameras, a drone as first responder program, and most recently, technology to livestream live 911 emergency calls to first responders. Lt. Jim Munro will present a case study detailing how Clovis PD employed new strategies and advanced technology to safeguard their community and allow their department to operate more effectively.

Legacy technologies have left 911 woefully ill-equipped to defend against cyberattacks. By using outdated, open-sourced, and easily exploited technologies, legacy 911 vendors are leaving the door open for major attacks against our life-saving infrastructure. Couple this with the growing attack space introduced by NG911 technologies a major offensive against 911 is imminent. But, 911 Centers should not have to choose between adopting new, life-saving technologies and compromising their security posture.

Speaker will provide an overview of Verizon’s Response Ready products and 5G capabilities to meet the unique needs of public safety. Response Solutions consist of three categories; Response Connectivity for secure, reliable and priority communications, Response Operations to enable seamless coordination in the field, and Response Devices and Equipment designed just for public safety that enable optimal communications and operations. The speaker will also address the benefits of 5G for public safety.

The Public Safety Next Generation 9-1-1 Coaltion is a diverse group of stakeholders representing public safety including 9-1-1, fire, emergency medical, and law enforcement professionals who are united behind legislative principles that address the needs and concerns of public safety. Learn about the Coalition’s efforts to pass legislation that enables a nationwide upgrade to Next Generation 9-1-1. 

Over the past year, thousands of ECCs nationwide have begun taking advantage of more accurate caller location and additional data during 9-1-1 calls. By receiving real-time information from connected devices and medical databases, public safety agencies have the opportunity to provide data-driven, personalized emergency response. This session will share how public safety leaders across the country are approaching life-saving data sources beyond caller location. It looks at how ECC managers, supervisors and telecommunicators can utilize data from sources such as Apple, Google, Uber and MedicAlert to enhance emergency response. 9-1-1 professionals will leave with a clearer understanding of how to receive, train for and utilize this life-saving data.

Holding employees accountable to job-critical communication and documentation is a challenge for most communication centers. The Memphis Police Department Emergency Communications Bureau improved accountability and efficiency by implementing a document management system to ensure every employee saw, signed, and could access crucial information when they needed it most. This presentation will highlight the numerous uses for and benefits of a document management system and tips for ensuring a successful software implementation.

Hear from the practitioners – local area directors of 9-1-1 centers – on what they need to achieve the vision of an advanced, broadband-enabled, emergency communications solution.

In an interview-style session with APCO Chief Counsel Jeff Cohen, hear from FCC veteran David Furth reflecting on the changing regulatory landscape for public safety communications.

In an interview-style session with APCO Chief Counsel Jeff Cohen, hear from FirstNet CEO Ed Parkinson reviewing recent achievements and describing what to expect in the coming new year for the FirstNet nationwide public safety broadband network.

NG9-1-1 planning and implementation is increasing nationwide. As NG9-1-1 service provider core networks and call handling systems mature, commercial originating service providers (OSPs) can deliver emergency calls, location information, and additional call data over enhanced NG9-1-1 interfaces. The migration of commercial OSP network connectivity from legacy E911 systems and gateways towards end state NG9-1-1 emergency service network interfaces is a critical step towards realizing the potential of NG9-1-1. Session initiation protocol (SIP) interconnectivity, location-based routing, legacy E9-1-1 call data equivalency, and media negotiation all play key roles in a seamless transition towards end state NG911 and provide a foundation for emergency services to evolve in the future.

Our nation’s 911 agencies are at an increased risk for cyberattacks because of the amount of data collected, coupled with the mission-critical nature of their operations. The increasing complexity of public safety’s IT requires a careful balance between the digital footprint and the associated risk.

Learn about APCO’s vision for the future of emergency response and ongoing advocacy efforts to improve 9-1-1 location information and protect public safety spectrum in the 6 GHz and 4.9 GHz bands.

Is your 9-1-1 center so laser focused on how many calls you’re taking and how long it takes to answer those calls that you’re missing the bigger picture? Just think of all the things your 9-1-1 center does day in, day out. You’re not just answering calls. You’re entering calls. You’re tracking resources. And you’re also partnering with other agencies to provide the best possible service to them. To effectively run your center, you need clear visibility into what’s happening, why things happened the way they did, and what performed and what didn’t. In this session, we’ll show you how to look beyond call handling to get the big picture of what’s happening, how and why, so you can run a more effective 9-1-1 center. Learn how you can: Gain real-time access to incident response data, all in one place, to understand how your center is performing now; Put valuable metrics within reach, including: time-to-enter, time-to-dispatch, time-to-on-scene and time-to-scene-clear (by priority, agency, or incident type); Automatically reconstruct complete incident lifecycles to uncover what happened – what telecommunicators said and heard, the information they had access to, and what they did; Get visibility into how well your agency is supporting partner agencies; Justify funding and troubleshoot turnover, training, onboarding and staffing issues.

In this session, we will provide an RTT overview, regulatory information, call flow, discuss PSAP readiness, RTT deployment and carrier considerations.