APCO 2018’s Opening General Session featured awards to top performers in the industry and an inspiring speech from the first Medal of Honor winner since Vietnam who lived to see the award.

But first APCO International member’s heard association Executive Director Derek Poarch, who described APCO’s advocacy for seamless interoperability and how Congress is taking steps toward making it a reality.

“Toward the end of last year, following extensive advocacy by APCO and others, we saw the introduction of legislation in Congress to support Next Generation 9-1-1,” Poarch said. “The proposed laws would preserve state and local control and establish a grant program that requires seamless interoperability.

“PSAPs simply must be able to receive emergency calls and data from the public, then process and share the calls and data with other PSAPs and responders in the field, regardless of jurisdiction, equipment, software or service provider, and without costly after-the-fact integrations or specialized interfaces.”

Poarch also noted that the wireless industry continues to move toward Federal Communications Commission benchmarks on 9-1-1 location accuracy.

“Further, consistent with APCO’s advocacy, recent legislation will require the FCC to explore achieving a dispatchable location regardless of the technological platform used to call 9-1-1,” Poarch said.

Emergency alert systems are becoming more useful thanks to pressure from APCO. Poarch noted that longer messages, the inclusion of links and phone numbers and better geotargeting are all part of an upgrade of the system.

After the NG9-1-1 briefing, Poarch introduced the winners of the association’s elite awards, who took the stage at the general session to accept their honors. The 2018 award winners are:

• Director of the Year: Kathren Sukus, Rock County Communications Center, Janesville, Wisconsin.
• Information Technologist of the Year: Brandon Wecker, Kitsap 911, Bremerton, Washington.
• Line Supervisor of the Year: Denese Moore, Valley Communications Center, Kent, Washington.
• Radio Frequency Technologist of the Year: Ric Wilhelm, California National Guard State Military Department, Van Nuys, California.
• Telecommunicator of the Year: Jamie Siler, Kitsap 911, Bremerton, Washington.
• Trainer of the Year: Carmen Bower, Kitsap 911, Bremerton, Washington
• Team of the Year: Combined Communications Center, Las Vegas, Nevada
• Technology in Leadership – Small Agency: Manatee County Emergency Communications Center, Bradenton, Florida
• Technology in Leadership – Large Agency: MAJCS, Oregon City, Oregon.

The awards were followed by an update from Christopher Sambar, Senior Vice President, FirstNet™, AT&T Business Solutions – Global Public Sector. Sambar pointed to progress building out the network dedicated to public safety.

“I think of it as the fifth network,” Sambar said. “We’re committed to the task and we have built a dedicated team within AT&T.”

Sambar pointed to the growing ecosystem attracting applications that function on FirstNet and the fact that it physically separates first responder and public safety traffic from other communications traffic.

Sambar introduced Congressional Medal of Honor winner Salvatore Giunta, who told the hundreds of APCO International members how training for your job and then performing it as a team relates to all facets of life – not only the rarified work of airborne combat soldiers in remote Afghan battlefields where Giunta performed his acts of heroism.

As he told the story of his campaigns, Giunta stressed the way members of the unit acted as a team to accomplish their missions.

On the day that Giunta acted to earn the Medal of Honor, his unit had been ambushed. He broke away from his unit after as they were outnumbered and suffering casualties. Giunta overtook and killed two enemy soldiers who were attempting to carry away his friend and airborne soldier.

Giunta said he was only able to come back alive because the unit worked together and used their training in the face of steep odds. And the reason they were able to perform at that high level? Their training had stretched them to the limit on a regular basis.

“You can’t just show up for game day. It’s about being there every single day for that time you might be asked to do something,” Giunta said. “Usually the most amazing things don’t just happen by accident. Usually people have to go out and pursue amazing. I challenge all of you to go out and make today better than yesterday.”