The Professional Communications Human Resources Taskforce (ProCHRT) is busy preparing its year three report. The Executive Committee thought it important to provide a brief overview of the outreach APCO has undertaken on behalf of the task force.

In the fall of 2011 the APCO Virginia Chapter hosted Sheriff Paul Fitzgerald from the National Sheriffs Association coming to meet with Steve Souder, task force Chair, Sheriff Danny Diggs (President of VA Sheriff’s Association) & Terry Hall, APCO First Vice President to discuss dispatcher recognition, FLSA and many other details outlined in the ProCHRT reports. As a result, a multi-step action plan was developed and implemented.

First, buy-in was received from the VA Sheriffs Association. Next First Vice President Hall made a presentation before the National Sheriff’s Association Conference held in Washington, D.C.

To say that APCO and the ProCHRT report were well received is an understatement. We have received excellent feedback as a result of the meeting. Twenty hard copies were passed out at the conference and an electronic version was sent to the NSA for mass distribution. The NSA legislative committee voted to introduce a proclamation to recognize dispatchers for the job that they perform every day. A draft resolution is currently under review by NSA, which will be voted on by the quorum during its June meeting in Nashville, Tenn.

Meetings have also been held with the International Association of Fire Chiefs and the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and a possible future joint letter of recognition may be forthcoming.

ProCHRT’s work is very important to APCO and to public safety as a whole, and with the recent vote of the Board of Directors the work will continue as a standing committee effective July 1.

–William D. Carrow, Chief of Communications, Delaware State Police and Immediate Past President, APCO International.