The 2025 edition of the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) trade show and conference was held recently in Baltimore. This blog features the observations of several MCP subject-matter experts who attended, including:
Here are their key takeaways:
Darrin Reilly: APCO echoed the central themes of last month’s National Emergency Number Association
(NENA) trade show and conference, i.e., cloud migration, leveraging artificial intelligence
(AI), and developing alternative-response methods. However, the most pressing buzz centered on cybersecurity readiness and the importance of governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) frameworks.
One of the most eye-opening conversations I had was with officials of a key client of ours, which, like many, is challenged with addressing everything that needs to be done from a cybersecurity perspective. Their situation is far from unique. Many public-safety and justice organizations lack the resources to hire a full-time chief information security officer (CISO). For them, a virtual CISO (vCISO) service model — which MCP delivers for numerous clients — can provide periodic assessments and on-demand expertise. This model bridges the gap between critical cybersecurity needs and budgetary/personnel constraints.
Regarding GRC frameworks, they often linger on the back burner as organizations focus on immediate, day-to-day operational challenges. Public-sector organizations are facing a growing array of cybersecurity threats and evolving regulations, standards, and best practices — as well as significant resource limitations. A GRC framework provides a unified, strategic approach to managing all of it. Unlike traditional risk assessments or isolated audit checklists, a GRC framework — another offering that MCP is delivering for clients — integrates risk mitigation, regulatory alignment, and policy development into a continuous improvement cycle, ensuring resilience and preparedness in today’s high-stakes digital environment.
Often, public-sector leaders treat cybersecurity audits as a “one-and-done” task — completed once a year (or even less frequently) — instead of an ongoing discipline. The reality is that systems, vendors, and personnel change constantly. Without regular reviews, small vulnerabilities can grow into significant threats — much like ignoring a small chip in a windshield until it spreads into a costly replacement.
Finally, there was a good bit of buzz about the Criminal Justice Information Services
(CJIS) compliance deadlines that are looming, with key requirements due by October 2026. While this deadline may seem distant, the work needed to get law-enforcement agencies fully compliant is significant. Now is the time to assess readiness, identify gaps, and implement solutions long before the clock runs out — and MCP can help with this as well.
John Chiaramonte: All sorts of technological advancements have emerged in the public-safety sector over the last several years and APCO offered clear evidence that they will continue to emerge. But one surprising discovery at this year’s event was the continued relevance of
land mobile radio (LMR).
More than two decades since the inception of FirstNet, Land Mobile Radio (LMR) remains a cornerstone of mission-critical communications. Vendors like Motorola, L3 Harris, EF Johnson, and Tait are still innovating, demonstrating that LMR isn’t going away anytime soon. Even more interesting, a company from Turkey recently entered the U.S. market, underscoring that LMR will continue to be foundational in the public-safety sector.
And it isn’t just the LMR stalwarts that are innovating. Sonim showcased a mobile device equipped with built-in thermal imaging. This capability could be a game-changer for law enforcement, search-and-rescue teams, and other emergency responders:
Agencies that may not have the budget for high-end, standalone thermal-imaging cameras now can outfit field personnel with a device that delivers essential communication and imaging in one package.
Another significant development talked about at APCO concerns the upcoming Monitoring Center Notification of Active Threat Detection (ATN-01) standard being developed by The
Monitoring Association (TMA). ATN-01 is an American National Standards Institute
(ANSI)-accredited standard that builds upon the Alarm Validation Scoring (AVS-01) standard, also ANSI accredited, which is an element of TMA’s ASAP Service. ASAP Service, which is built upon the TMA/APCO-developed Automatic Secure Alarm Protocol ASAP, automatically delivers digital alarm-center notifications to a 911 center’s computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system, with all information needed by 911 telecommunicators to dispatch the appropriate emergency response.
Both AVS-01 and ATN-01 are scoring frameworks that enable 911 telecommunicators to determine the severity of an alarm notification. Whereas AVS-01 is focused on notifications generated by residential and commercial alarm systems, ATN-01 expands the scope to school panic alarms, gunshot-detection systems, and mass-notification platforms, other Internet-of-Things (IoT) safety sensors, and more. Together, ATN-01 and AVS-01 promise to improve emergency-response speed and outcomes dramatically.
David Jones: It was intriguing to hear people talking about the prospect of using AI to triage emergency calls. Most of the discussion thus far has been about using AI to handle nonemergency calls, or to support telecommunicators by automating language translation or call transcription. There will be a lot of early skepticism about replacing human judgment in life-and-death situations — but the notion is compelling and potentially ground-breaking.
Conceptual use cases involve an AI solution “listening” to emergency callers to gather initial details while identifying keywords or detecting stress or panic in the caller's voice, and then automatically routing the call to the most appropriate response unit based on context. This could potentially accelerate the response time in high-volume environments and augment telecommunicator effectiveness, especially in under-resourced or high-call-volume jurisdictions.
This is at a very nascent stage and there will be a lot of questions. One concerns whether an algorithm truly can understand human nuance in a moment of crisis? Another asks whether an AI solution can catch subtle signs of distress that a human might miss?
We’ll learn the answers eventually. However, generational shifts may change the equation. Younger professionals and the public at large — many of whom interact with AI-powered chatbots daily — may be more open to AI-led triage models. And as staffing shortages persist across the nation, it’s becoming increasingly clear that 911 centers can’t hire their way out of the crisis. Automation, in some form, may become a necessity rather than a choice.
One last thought: when the notion of a nationwide public-safety broadband network first was floated more than two decades ago, there was similar skepticism about whether commercial wireless technology was suitable for the mission-critical environment. What we learned was that technology always evolves, usually at warp speed. Today, FirstNet stands as a prime example — it eventually could turn out similarly for AI-assisted emergency call handling.
A future blog will provide more takeaways from this year’s APCO trade show and conference — so, stay tuned.
Glenn Bischoff is MCP’s content specialist.