Keith Phillips remembers exactly where he was sitting when he heard the news about 9/11. Like many of his colleagues in public safety, the events of that day marked a turning point in his professional career, as an otherwise ordinary trip to the dentist evolved into a day he’d never forget.

“We had a rude awakening one day. It was called 9/11,” Phillips said during the “APCO Around the World” panel discussion at the APCO International Convention & Expo moderated by association President John Wright.

Phillips serves as the vice president of British APCO, the leading UK-based association in the British Isles for all professionals in public safety and civil contingencies communications and information systems. British APCO is affiliated to APCO Global Alliance, which includes similar organizations representing public safety users in the U.S., Canada and Australasia.

After hearing what had happened in the U.S. on 9/11, Phillips was immediately called to a meeting with the deputy prime minister who asked the team of public safety officials in attendance, “If it happened here, could we manage it?”

The event sparked a chain of events and a new approach to public safety communications within the UK. Results included a huge investment into re-equipping fire service, procurement of a new national radio system; and consolidation of police, fire and ambulance control centers.

During the panel discussion, Phillips shared updates regarding the UK’s Emergency Services Network, an LTE mobile system that will replace the current TETRA (Terrestrial Trunked Radio) network.

“This is where British APCO is engaged. We are part of that team, and we think it’s mutually beneficial,” Phillips said.

Also presenting reports of APCO’s progress around the globe were Gavin R. Hayes, president of APCO Canada, and Geoff Spring, co-chair of APCO Australasia.

Hayes said that one of the major issues the Canadian organization is dealing with is cross-border interoperability. The goal is to finalize a formal agreement between the U.S. and Canada.

“It’s stalled on our side of the border, and APCO Canada is trying to get the momentum going,” he said.

In addition, APCO Canada is very concerned about the mental health of the people working in the communication centers. “Our concern is that there’s no one representing the voice of the people in the chair,” Hayes said, especially when it comes to NG911 and the questions that come along with the adoption of new technology.

In the southern hemisphere, APCO Australasia is also hard at work improving the public safety industry and studying what’s next in technology and standards.

Spring listed five needs for the public safety communications industry in Australia:

• The need to include the public in the mission-critical public safety communications ecosystem.
• The need to recognize public safety communications as part of mainstream ICT.
• The need for research.
• The need for open-based, continually evolving standards.
• The need for collaboration between government, industry and academia.

He also discussed recent policy development in Australia, including the Triple Zero (000) Review, the Spectrum Review, the PSMB Inquiry by the Australian Productivity Commission, the allocation of 10MHz in the 800 MHz band for PS, and the Smart ICT Review.