As an American National Standards Institute (ANSI)-accredited Standards Developer (ASD), APCO International is dedicated to ensuring public safety communications has a role in the development of standards that affect our industry. The integrity and inclusiveness of the process results in high quality standards that assist ECCs with operational, technical and training guidance. APCO’s standards development activities have a broad scope, ranging from the actual development of standards to the representation of public safety communications in other standards development areas.

Standards Working Group Volunteers

APCO’s standards are shaped by the expertise and collaboration of our Standards Working Groups. These dedicated teams of approximately 15 volunteers bring diverse backgrounds in training, operations and technical fields to research and develop standards that advance public safety communications.

Currently, all working groups are full, but new volunteer opportunities will be posted as they become available. Check back often to join this important work and contribute to the future of public safety communications.

Find Standards

Locate operational, technical and training standards developed by APCO for the public safety communications profession.

Standards Review & Comment

The APCO ANS process allows anyone using APCO standards to have confidence that our standards are based on a consensus of views arrived at through a fair and open process. Anyone can participate in reviewing and commenting.

Help With Standards Development

Join the Standards Development Committee, one of the three subcommittees, or working groups to develop new standards and revise current standards.

APCO Standards Activities in Progress

The following standards are currently in development:

Operational Candidate ANS

  • Non 9-1-1 Call Processing and Dispatch
  • Supplemental Emergency Responder Recommendations
  • Minimum Technical Requirements for Remote Support to Emergency Communication Center (ECC) Operations\

Technical Candidate ANS

  • Common Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) GIS Identifiers

Training Candidate ANS

 

Revisions to Current APCO ANS Standards

  • Multi-Functional Multi-Discipline CAD Minimum Functional Requirements
  • Public Safety Communications Incident Handling Process
  • NENA/APCO Minimum Training Standard for TTY/TDD Use in the Public
  • NENA/APCO Standard for Telecommunicator Emergency Response Taskforce (TERT)
  • APCO/NENA Standard for the Establishment of a QA/QI Program for ECCs
  • Minimum Training Standards for Public Safety Telecommunicators
  • Core Competencies and Minimum Training Standards for PSC Training Coordinator
  • Core Competencies and Minimum Training Standards for PSC Training Officer (CTO)

Questions and Suggestions

If you have any questions, suggestions, or need help finding a specific standard, please email [email protected] or call the Standards Program Manager at (386) 681-8719 .