Volunteers are at the heart of APCO's work. We need your skills, passion and perspectives to build a vibrant, inclusive, and multicultural corps of volunteer leaders throughout our committees. Check out these opportunities to make a difference:

The Awards Committee solicits, reviews and scores annual nominations of our peers and recommends recipients.

NEW - The Military Employment Committee identifies and evaluates options to align ECC staffing shortages with unemployed military spouses and military veterans. 

The Professional Development Events Committee assists with selecting quality program topics and content for the educational tracks at the Annual Conference.

Sign up today - deadline is September 15

Mark your calendars for APCO's Virtual Emerging Technology Forum taking place November 2-4. The program will cover cybersecurity risks, FirstNet updates, 9-1-1 data messaging, NG9-1-1, updates from the FCC, and much more. During the three-day program, you can earn 12 CEUs and connect with your peers.
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APCO’s Communications Center Supervisor, 5th Edition course provides supervisory training designed specifically for emergency communications center supervisors and candidates moving into supervisory roles. Available as an online class or in the APCO Virtual Classroom, the course instruction is supplemented by practical exercises that help students apply the lessons to their own agency policies and procedures. Students also learn how to work together in groups and cooperate to attain common goals. Worth 24 CDEs.
Register for the online course: September 29 – November 2
Register for Virtual Classroom course: October 4 – 6

On August 30, APCO filed reply comments with the FCC to address comments made by other parties regarding the FCC’s proposed rules for improving 9-1-1 outage notifications. The proposed rules examine how and when service providers must notify ECCs of network disruptions that impact 9-1-1 service. Building upon APCO’s initial comments, APCO’s filing highlighted the importance of deferring to ECCs’ preferences of the outage information they receive, the benefits of graphical outage information, and the responsibility of service providers to establish a two-way contact database to improve communications with ECCs.

The following agencies have received APCO Agency Training Program Certification, a Project 33® Initiative:

• Orleans Parish (La.) Communication District Receives APCO Agency Training Program Certification
• Williamson County (Tenn.) Department of Emergency Communications Receives APCO Agency Training Program Certification
• Regional Emergency Dispatch Authority (N.M.) Receives APCO Agency Training Program Certification
• Luzerne County (Penn.) 9-1-1 Receives APCO Agency Training Program Certification
• Valley Communications Center (Wash.) Receives APCO Agency Training Program Certification
• Livingston Sheriff’s Office Communications Bureau (N.Y.) Receives APCO Agency Training Program Certification

Public safety agencies use the APCO International Agency Training Program Certification as a formal mechanism to ensure their training programs meet APCO American National Standards (ANS). Initial and continuing training for public safety telecommunicators is important as they provide essential services to the public in an expanding and rapidly changing environment.

APCO International received a grant award in the amount of $50,000 from the Motorola Solutions Foundation, the charitable arm of Motorola Solutions. The generous grant is being administered through APCO’s Commercial Advisory Council (CAC) Scholarship Program, which makes scholarship funds available to public safety communications professionals to participate in APCO Institute training.
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APCO received final approval from the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) for Crisis Intervention Techniques and Call Handling Procedures for Public Safety Telecommunicators, a newly created American National Standard (ANS). The purpose of this standard is to identify operational factors related to handling calls involving emotionally distressed individuals. This includes procedures for effectively recognizing and communicating with individuals in emotional or mental crisis and resources that should be available to the public safety telecommunicator.
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Mike Kionka has been an APCO Local Advisor since 2018. Born and raised in the Denver, Colorado area, Mike received his Bachelor of Sciences Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Colorado in 2001. Mike worked 10 years as a consultant for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service designing and project managing their VHF P25 radio system upgrades across the country, including frequency nomination and planning. Read more

Customer Service in Today's Public Safety Communications | September 15 – October 5
Providing satisfactory customer service in your agency is paramount to successful performance for both for the individual telecommunicator as well as the agency they represent. This online course addresses all aspects of customer service and how it impacts the public safety communications industry. Worth 8 CDEs.

Crisis Negotiations for Telecommunicators | October 6 – 26
Provides instruction on the most effective way to receive and process calls involving crisis situations to ensure telecommunicators fulfill their role as a vital component of the overall public safety response. Worth 8 CDEs.

Comprehensive Quality | September 15 – October 19
Attendees of this online course will receive the training and resources needed that help them get started right away creating and implementing a successful quality assurance program at their agency. Worth 16 CDEs.

Vector Solutions Acquires Envisage Technologies, Fostering Mission to Provide Essential Solutions to Public Safety

Hexagon partners with RapidSOS to provide life-saving emergency data to first responders