Mark David Pallans, 78, a life member and senior member of APCO, died October 18. He lived in North Las Vegas, Nevada, and was born in Astoria, New York. At the time of his death, Pallans was an active member of APCO’s spectrum committee, the Editorial Committee and the Professional Development Events Committee.
Early in his career, Pallans worked for New York City Civil Defense then Union County, New Jersey, and Broward County, Florida, Emergency Management. He trained the volunteer teams of emergency communicators used during disasters.
As technology manager overseeing the Broward County 9-1-1 system, he developed a backup emergency communications center (ECC) when the main site at the county courthouse failed. Pallans also led a county team that procured and implemented one of the first 800 MHz trunked radio systems in the nation.
At Miami-Dade County Police, Pallans upgraded the county’s joint fire, police and EMS ECC. Pallans upgraded the radio system and began educating 9-1-1 personnel and new police officers about radio systems. “I believed then as I do today that if you know the capabilities of your technology you can work more effectively and with more confidence,” Pallans wrote.
Pallans served as telecommunications manager for the City of Fort Lauderdale and fought for a unified telephone system that could provide location information for every 9-1-1 call made from a city telephone. He implemented one of the first “reverse 9-1-1” systems for resident alerting.
Pallans moved to Nevada and became the system administrator for the statewide public safety radio system, responsible for technical and operational leadership. Upon retirement from local government, he consulted for smaller agencies nationwide to upgrade their ECCs, radio and 9-1-1 systems.
Pallans’ APCO service began in 1987 in Florida and included educational initiatives for both telecommunicators and technical members. He was elected to the Nevada Chapter Board and over the years served as president for two terms and then treasurer. Pallans served as communications chairman for the 75th Annual Conference & Expo in Las Vegas, and in 2018 he served as co-chairman of the Annual Conference & Expo, also held in Las Vegas.
He is survived by his wife Gayle.
Pallans detailed his long and varied career in public safety communications in a candidate profile for the APCO Executive Board. This Silent Key is drawn from the 2019 article published in PSC magazine, which appears on the APCO website.
