Attendees hear from Maryland Governor, APCO CEO & Executive Director, APCO President, AT&T’s FirstNet Program President and Keynote Speaker
By Rick Goldstein
APCO 2025 attendees packed the massive Baltimore Convention Center ballroom on Monday morning for the Opening General Session where the governor of Maryland, the APCO CEO & executive director, and the APCO president welcomed the assembled membership. They were followed by Emergency Communications Center Award winners and a keynote speaker who said we can all make a positive difference in the lives of those around us and told stories about those who did.
CEO & Executive Director Mel Maier outlined the policy and professional path forward on behalf of more than 42,000 APCO members worldwide. He described APCO’s two-pronged legislative and regulatory strategy to change the federal classification for public safety telecommunicators from administrative/clerical occupation to “protective service.”
The association is working with bipartisan congressional legislators to change the classification — in the House with the 9-1-1 SAVES Act (H.R. 937) that was reintroduced in January, and in the Senate with the Enhancing First Response Act (S. 725), which for the first time is under consideration by the full Senate.
On the regulatory side, APCO has submitted comments to encourage the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to reclassify public safety telecommunicators as protective services.
Maier explained how APCO is leveraging cooperation with public safety partners — the Public Safety Next Generation 9-1-1 Coalition — to advocate for the rollout of NG9-1-1.
“The Coalition held a summit on Capitol Hill, demonstrating the urgency for Congress to fully fund the NG9-1-1 transition,” Maier said. “APCO will continue efforts to secure NG9-1-1 funding through any legislative opportunity.”
Maier said APCO is urging Congress to permanently reauthorize FirstNet before its legislative sunset to provide certainty and uninterrupted access to first responders who rely on this high-speed broadband network.
Maier said the association undertakes these initiatives on behalf of its members and public safety communications. “We will never stop fighting for the things we know are right.”
Maier said the conference is about engagement and he recommended the educational sessions, networking with fellow members and perusing the exhibition filled with industry vendors.
Maier encouraged APCO members to contribute to the Sunshine Fund, direct financial support for members experiencing challenges. Contributions can be made through the conference mobile app, and donors of $10 or more receive a complimentary pin from the APCO store.
Maier also drew conference-goers’ attention to public safety telecommunicators performing live 9-1-1 call taking at the Baltimore Convention Center.
“For the first time ever, APCO is featuring a fully operational remote 9-1-1 center taking live emergency calls directly from this very convention center,” Maier said.
Calling herself the “queen bee of 9-1-1,” Maryland State Sen. Cheryl Kagan followed Maier to the podium. Kagan said she chaired a statewide 9-1-1 commission focused on solving public safety communications problems, including reclassification of public safety telecommunicators. “Let’s hope Congress follows,” Kagan said.
Kagan introduced Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, who stressed the lifesaving mission of public safety telecommunicators.
“You provide calm in the middle of someone’s chaos. That matters,” Moore said. “We cannot forget the extra burden that you have to carry on your shoulders.’’
Moore said his administration has put budget muscle behind his sentiments with $133 million to fund 9-1-1 centers during his administration.
“We made historic investment in our 9-1-1 call centers to make sure people are getting help when they need it,” he said. Moore said that Next Generation 9-1-1 systems have been funded in Maryland so that “no matter how big your county, you get the help when it’s needed.”
The governor pointed to a sharp drop in crime in Baltimore and statewide since 2019, the last time APCO held its annual conference here. “The last time the homicide rate was this low in Baltimore city, I was not born yet.”
Moore, who commanded paratroopers in Afghanistan before entering politics, used the language of combat to praise his audience.
“I would never want anyone at my flanks than you all because you all know what it means to get the job done. You’re the sentinels, you’re always watching our six, and I want you to know in Maryland we’re always going to watch yours.”
APCO President Stephen P. Martini followed Moore on the stage and touted APCO’s expanding relationships internationally and domestically, including with the EMDR International Association (EMDRIA). Martini pointed to an initiative to educate mental health clinicians on the work done by public safety telecommunicators. A four-hour training class is designed to ground mental health professionals in 9-1-1 dispatching “so the clinician doesn’t have to ask what you do.”
“These are just a few of the many strong partnerships APCO nurtured to broaden our impact and strengthen our ability to support the no-fail mission of you — our members,” Martini said.
Maier returned to the podium and presented the 2024 Emergency Communications Center and Technology Leadership Awards for demonstrating the highest levels of professional conduct and outstanding performance in the line of duty.
- Jeffery Troyer, of the Kalamazoo County (Michigan) Consolidated Dispatch Authority is Communications Center Director of the Year.
- Shawn Gibbons, of Summerville (South Carolina) Emergency Communications, is the Information Technologist of the Year.
- Jamie Luz, NRV911 Emergency Communications Regional Authority, Christiansburg, Virginia, is the Line Supervisor of the Year.
- Levi Robertson, City of Amarillo, Texas, is the Radio Frequency Technologist of the Year.
- Matthew Palfy, Jeffcom 911, Golden, Colorado, is the Telecommunicator of the Year.
- Rylee Legreide, Jeffcom911, Golden, Colorado, is the Trainer of the Year.
- Atlanta 911 is the Team of the Year.
- Office of Unified Communications, Washington, D.C., won the large agency Technology Leadership Award.
- Hawkins County (Tennessee) 911 won the small agency Technology Leadership Award.
Scott Agnew, president of the FirstNet program at AT&T, updated the audience on the public safety network’s progress.
“We continue to expand your coverage based on your feedback, especially in rural, remote and tribal areas. And thanks to our partnership with the federal government, we’ve expanded your dedicated in-building connectivity to over 6,000 public safety buildings.”
He said FirstNet would begin rolling out satellite connectivity on FirstNet cellphones later this year.
Agnew introduced keynote speaker Brett Culp, a documentary filmmaker and self-described “strategic storyteller.”
On Monday, Culp told stories of a 13-year-old girl who swam across Lake Ontario and a man who froze on live TV for 7 1/2 minutes — both in the service of helping others. The jobs that each set for themselves turned out harder than expected. But the characters positively affected others through perseverance and by showing vulnerable sides of their characters. They “let the light that is in every one of us to shine,” Culp said.
Culp said that when Annaleise Carr was 13, she was so moved by her visit to Camp Trillium, a place for children with life-threatening afflictions, that she decided to swim across Lake Ontario to raise money. It was supposed to take 13 hours and optimistically she could expect to raise $30,000, Culp said. But the weather and currents turned against her. She ended up swimming through dark waters in the dead of night. Escort boats and their lights moved away so as not to draw eels upon the swimming girl. At one point during the odyssey she swam for four hours, and found herself one mile farther from the finish. Instead of giving up, Annaleise kept thinking of the kids at Camp Trillium, Culp said. It took her 26 hours to swim the 32 miles, and she raised $200,000.
The lessons Culp has drawn about management and leadership from this and other stories is that “people are not a problem to be solved, they are a force to be unleashed.”
The filmmaker interviewed APCO members who illustrated the same spirit.
Cheryl Konarski, communications director of the Joplin (Missouri) Police Department, described her approach when a staff member is on the verge of burnout. Konarski said she looks for the potential in that person and has a conversation that goes something like, “I see you’re struggling, but this is where I see you going in our center. I see you as a great trainer. I see you going out in public relations, education.”
Culp figures all of us have that light shining inside. All we have to do is let it out.
