Alexandria, Va. – The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International received final approval from the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) on July 14, 2015 for an American National Standard (ANS) that identifies minimum training for public safety telecommunicators.

The revision and re-designation process occurs every five years for all American National Standards. This ensures that all standards are up to date with current trends in operations, training and technology.

This standard revision identifies minimum training requirements for both new and veteran public safety telecommunicators. This position is typically tasked with receiving, processing, transmitting, and conveying public safety information to dispatchers, law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency medical and emergency management personnel. This document seeks to define training in certain knowledge and skills for the agency to provide to telecommunicators.

“APCO is a pioneer in the development of training standards for public safety communications.  Routine review and revision of our standards ensures essential training requirements are up to date and relevant,” said John Wright, president of APCO International.

APCO ANS 3.103.2-2015 can be downloaded at https://www.apcointl.org/standards/apco-standards-for-download.html.

For questions regarding APCO Standards, please email standards@apcointl.org.

APCO International® (www.apcointl.org)

APCO International is the world’s oldest and largest organization of public safety communications professionals and supports the largest U.S. membership base of any public safety association. It serves the needs of public safety communications practitioners worldwide – and the welfare of the general public as a whole – by providing complete expertise, professional development, technical assistance, advocacy and outreach.