APCO International thanks all call takers, dispatchers, radio engineers, technicians, trainers, supervisors, managers and directors who ensure the appropriate response to emergencies and protect the public and first responders.
This is your week, and local communities are taking time to recognize your demanding and often unseen role as first first responders. Read the news from around the country and let us know how you are celebrating NPSTW in your comm center.
Public safety communications never takes a day off, and we salute you—this week and every week.
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19,129 Signatures Thus Far, Need 80,871 by May 7 - Sign and Pass Along
As the federal government nears a final decision on whether to update its classification system describing occupations in the United States, APCO has launched a White House petition entitled "9-1-1 Professionals Should Be Recognized for Protecting and Saving Lives." The goal of this petition, timed with National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, is to draw attention to the need to classify Public Safety Telecommunicators as Protective Service Occupations.
Sign the Petition
Send to colleagues, family and friends using this link: www.apcointl.org/whitehousepetition
The deadline to collect 100,000 signatures is May 7.
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The application deadline for the next two sessions of APCO’s Certified Public-Safety Executive (CPE) Program has been extended from April 15 to May 1. The next sessions are scheduled for: July 5, 2017 to January 26, 2018, and January 3 to July 19, 2018. The CPE program is open to anyone who is an APCO Registered Public-Safety Leader (RPL); possesses an associate’s degree or above; or has a high school diploma and at least 10 years’ experience in public safety communications at the supervisor, manager or director level. Apply now.
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In commemoration of National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, Rep. Norma J. Torres (D-Pomona) highlighted the important work of 9-1-1 dispatchers through the introduction of a congressional resolution and by taking part in a series of local events and site visits.
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Mount Olive Chronicle
It was shortly after midnight on April 22, 2016, and the woman had called 9-1-1 because her boyfriend had a knife and was threatening to kill himself. Communications Officer Steve Mirsik picked up the line and set in motion a drama that required the dispatcher to try to calm the woman, get more information about her boyfriend while dispatching police and first aid to the scene.
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FCW
While innovative consumer communications apps proliferate, the 9-1-1 emergency infrastructure remains stuck in the 20th century, and advocates are impatient for an upgrade.
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Federal Register
In this document, the Federal Communications Commission adopts revised rules governing the 800 MHz cellular radiotelephone service. The Commission revises the outdated cellular radiated power rules and related technical provisions, most notably allowing licensees the option to comply with power spectral density (PSD) power limits, while also safeguarding systems that share the 800 MHz band, especially public safety systems, from increased unacceptable interference.
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The Advocate
Deputy Erica Michel received the Telecommunicator of the Year Award this week from the Louisiana state chapters of APCO and NENA.
"Even as she realized her own home was quickly being overtaken by flood waters, she was able to maintain her professionalism and composure, while continuing to answer the non-stop radio traffic and the relentless flow of 9-1-1 calls from scared citizens," said Sheriff Jeff Wiley.
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Urgent Communications
FirstNet may be taking longer than many in the public safety community had hoped to build the nationwide public safety broadband network. However, the fact that that system is on the cusp of reality is remarkable, given the many challenges and doubts that have been overcome during the past decade.
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9-1-1 Magazine
There is no telecommunicator tree, no hanging of headsets on the consoles with care, no dispatch carols. Silent Night certainly takes on a new meaning to those superstitious about even muttering the word "quiet." The take away from all this, is that National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week is what we collectively make it. Like many times of celebration, it is the observance of activities that transcend a single day or week or month or year.
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[Webinar] Pulse Nightclub Shooting: The View From the PSAP
April 27, 2017 | 2:00-3:30 p.m. ET
Register now.
Sponsored by 
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Chris Wilson, P25 Manager 
Chris has over 40 years of experience in technologies and systems that support public safety communications. Chris spent 38 years at Motorola Solutions. His background includes field service, product development, design and analysis of conventional and trunked radio technologies, analog and digital simulcast systems, system architecture development, Project 25/TIA-102 standard development, and competitive intelligence in the Project 25 marketplace. Prior to Motorola Solutions, Chris attended Michigan Technological University. He holds a B.S. in electrical engineering.
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