This week is National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week (NPSTW), a week where we honor telecommunications personnel in the public safety community. Held annually through the second week of April, the week is dedicated to the men and women who serve our communities as public safety communicators.
The idea of National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week was originally conceived by Patricia Anderson of the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office in California. For the first three years, the week was exclusively honored by that agency but in the mid-1980s, members of the Virginia and North Carolina chapters of the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) became involved.
By the early 1990s, the national APCO organization had convinced Congress that there was a need for a formal proclamation. Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA) introduced the bill that became H.J. Res. 284 which federally created “National Public Safety Telecommunications Week.” Due to protocol, the bill was introduced twice more in 1993 and 1994 before becoming permanent without the need for an annual introduction.
The bill was originally introduced to Congress in 1991 calling the week “National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week” but over the years it has taken on other names such as “National Public-Safety Telecommunications Week” and “International Public Safety Telecommunications Week.”
In honor of this year’s National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, APCO International President Brent Lee wrote a letter emphasizing the importance of WE and how each call-taker, dispatcher, supervisor, manager, and trainer has an impact on the residents of their community.
As a leader in producing high specification two way communications equipment, RELM Wire
less is proud to support the public servants that we honor this week. We go to work every day with the goal of making two way communication easier for these public safety officials and we are pleased to join in this week in celebrating those that spend their lives helping others.