Attendees recognize agency accreditations, learn about conference venues and are inspired by a mental health resiliency charity founder
By Richard Goldstein
On the final day of APCO 2025, the Food for Thought Luncheon in the Baltimore Convention Center hosted more than 1,000 public safety communications professionals. Attendees on Wednesday, July 30, recognized agencies that earned APCO accreditation; heard about Baltimore’s advances in public safety communications and about APCO 2026’s San Antonio destination; and were inspired by the founder of Because I Said I Would, a mental health resiliency charity based on keeping promises.
APCO CEO and Executive Director Mel Maier started off by highlighting the Block Party and educational sessions packed with insight and innovation. “This has been such a special time,” Maier said. “It’s amazing to see all of you connecting with the content, and with our vendors and the technology they bring every year, and of course with each other.”
Maier welcomed Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, who credited Baltimore City 9-1-1 Director Tanea Reddick for upgrades to the city’s public safety communications. Scott pointed to the use of artificial intelligence to translate when emergency callers don’t speak English. Scott also described the deployment of a command center during the Baltimore 2025 arts festival, Artscape, that received only calls in and nearby the arts festival thanks to geofencing technology. The same geofencing technology was used during APCO 2025 to corral 9-1-1 calls made in the vicinity of the Baltimore Convention Center as it teemed with more than 5,000 visitors to the annual conference. Scott said the system allows “faster routing, smarter response and greater awareness during a large-scale event.”
Membership Achievement and Accreditation
Maier returned to the stage where he announced APCO’s Agency Training Program Certification would now be called the Agency Training Program Accreditation (ATPA). Maier said the name change better reflects the prestige and rigor of the program, which ensures public safety agencies meet national training standards and demonstrate a commitment to training excellence and operational readiness.
The program continued with recognition of membership achievements, led by APCO Chief of Staff Meghan Architect. The Florida Chapter gained the most new members with 748; the Pacific Chapter had the largest percentage growth with a 63.3% rise; and the Wyoming Chapter was recognized for greatest membership by population density.
Architect read the names of agencies that in the past year earned the newly renamed APCO Agency Training Program Accreditation.
APCO President Stephen Martini took the stage to present the 2025 Presidential Award to Bill Hobgood for his pioneering work in creating and deploying the ASAP to PSAP program. Hobgood’s work — which now connects 151 communications centers across 25 states — has streamlined alarm reporting for 80% of the nation’s monitored alarms.
“His vision to see this solution as a win-win for public safety and the alarm industry created a solution enhancing emergency and non-emergency response in thousands of communities,” Martini said. “This critical initiative saving time, lives and money would not be the success it is today, with hope for continued growth in many more areas throughout the country and around the world, without Bill Hobgood’s steady hand and laser focus.”
Goodbye, Hello
Next on the stage were the co-chairs of APCO 2025, Reddick and Tom Ward, manager, Frederick County (Maryland) 9-1-1. Reddick recognized the people who made APCO 2025 happen. “None of what took place this week is possible without the hundreds of volunteers who made this possible. Thank you all for giving up your own time to help support the conference,” Reddick said.
Reddick and Ward yielded the stage to Kelle Hall, the communications manager at Highland Park, Texas, who introduced the city of San Antonio, Texas, the host of APCO 2026. Hall first acknowledged the flooding catastrophe on the Guadalupe River that cost more than 100 lives in the Texas Hill Country, an area that lies northwest of San Antonio.
Hall noted that people from across the state, nation and even world pitched in to help in the aftermath of the disaster “because that’s the spirit of public safety.”
“It’s with the same spirit of unity and purpose that we welcome you into San Antonio for next year’s conference. It will be more than just training; it will be a place of renewal and a time to reconnect,” she said.
Hall aired a video featuring the sights, sounds and tastes of San Antonio, including the River Walk, the Alamo, mariachi bands and margaritas.
Because I said I Would
Angel Arocha, vice president of compliance for Comcast, introduced the final act of the luncheon, Alex Sheen, as “someone who has been sharing the purpose of a promise around the world.”
Sheen explained how the name of his charity — the same words as appeared on his T-shirt — came about. When Sheen’s father, Al, died of cancer, Alex gave the eulogy at his funeral. He called the speech “Because I said I would” in memory of his father’s talent for keeping promises. Sheen recalled how his own promise on the internet led him to print postcards with those words on one side; the blank side was reserved for a written promise. The writer gives the card to the person for whom the promise is meant and takes the card back when the promise is kept.
Sheen promised to mail 10 postcards to anyone who asked, and he was soon spending thousands of dollars and a great deal of time making good on that promise. He thought about taking up his side gig full time but didn’t quit his high-paying software management job until he received an anonymous letter thanking him for teaching mental health resiliency.
“Hi Alex, I’ve been reading your blog. A few times I almost took my life,” the letter said. “I’m not sure not sure I’d even be around if it wasn’t for you. I want to promise you that I will not give up.”
Sheen showed the letter to his boss to explain why he was quitting; it turned out that it was his boss’s 14-year-old daughter who had written it. Ten years later Sheen went to the girl’s wedding.
The charity that Sheen founded teaches anger management, self-control, resiliency skills and basic mental health habits. “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are able to change ourselves.” Practicing gratitude is among the coping skills, to be thankful about the situation in which one finds oneself — saying to yourself “I get to” instead of “I have to.”
Sheen and his charity started a 292-acre summer camp with a big house at the center that also served as the charity’s headquarters. In 2023, the house burned along with a decade’s worth of promise cards. No one was injured, but Sheen knew that a fire often spells the end of an organization. Sheen would practice what he preached. “This charity teaches resiliency skills, and we better have some of them,” he said. The charity set to rebuild and the camp is reopening.
Sheen said he earns a million dollars a year giving speeches like the one at APCO 2025, but that money goes to the charity while he receives “a teacher’s salary.” Sheen said the promises in the end are not about him or his dad. “It’s about you,” he told the audience. “You can become a stronger version of yourself.”
