This week APCO held its third Nexus event, in National Harbor, Maryland. Attendees gathered for two days of real-life scenarios that reviewed the 9-1-1 response for each event and talked about how the 9-1-1 response could have been improved with NG9-1-1 technologies. Nexus also featured the 360 Experience thanks to our sponsors who were onsite to demonstrate these technologies and solutions of the future.
“One of APCO’s primary goals is to develop educational and timely programs that feature leaders in the field. We designed Nexus to provide an immersive experience that shows the promise of how Next Generation 9-1-1 can transform emergency communications,” said Mel Maier, CEO and Executive Director, APCO International. “Based on the public safety community’s vision for a fully interoperable, end-to-end NG9-1-1 environment, today’s sessions will showcase the emergency communications center of the future through discussions of real-life scenarios.”
Sessions ranged from a review of a mass shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, to the recent Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore, Maryland, to a special session on how the City of Alexandria has implemented remote call taking. The scenarios were different, but the message throughout was that the 9-1-1 response can be improved through the implementation of NG9-1-1 technologies. During the mass shooting scenario, for instance, the panelists walked through the timeline of the morning from the time the suspect arrived at the school to the time the suspect was neutralized, showing how NG9-1-1 technologies could shorten that timeline. “This is the art of the possible. This isn’t minutes, it’s lives,” explained panelist Stephen Martini.
The annual Public Safety Communications Leadership in Policy Awards dinner was held at the same location after the first day of the conference. Featured guest FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez led off the presentations to four individuals being honored for their work to enhance public safety communications
Thank you to our sponsors and all the participants who shared the future of emergency communications with us at Nexus.
