APCO’s Global Congress bridged the information gap between public safety professionals from 19 nations at the inaugural event, held June 6th-8th in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
With more than 160 delegates representing Afghanistan, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, China, Egypt, Germany, Iran, Ireland, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Qatar, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the United Kingdom and the U.S., the Congress cultivated international relationships that will help each nation better prepare its public safety professionals to serve in critical moments.
During the press conference on June 5th, Col. Zied Zobi, Command Control Center Director & Head of Command Control Project with the Public Safety Directorate in Amman, Jordan, voiced his support and endorsement of the Congress. He said, “This is an opportunity to share knowledge and technology.”
Emergency medical services (including Dubai Corporation for Ambulance Services), Civil Defence Officers, fire personnel, law enforcement, engineers, geographic information systems managers, center directors, managers, and technology & solutions providers shared industry insights through presentation discussions and in the exhibit hall. In the welcome address, Lt. Col Rashid Bin Massam, Dubai Civil Defence said, “This is a well-organized event, and we are happy to support the event next year.”
Nigel Mackenzie of Pacific Control Systems LLC delivered the keynote at the opening session. His presentation focused on enhancing civil protection through technology on a 24/7 basis. Other presentations centered on mission-critical communications at planned and unplanned events, public safety communications training standards, spectrum allocations for public safety and disaster communications and a Jordanian case study on developing a new command control center.
The exhibit hall with more than 30 companies represented showcased new technology and training to satisfy the urgent interest in radio standards for public safety communications. Several emergency vehicles, telecommunicator training simulators, recycled equipment and repackaging of a Motorola XTS-2500 portable radio into a form-fitting body device were displayed by:
- Dubai Civil Defence and Dubai Corporation for Ambulance Services
- SAVE Corp., Edgewater, Fl.
- Stealth Telecom, Dubai
- Sunny Communications, Denver, Co.
George Rice, executive director for APCO International said, “This event is a milestone for our association and our industry. It’s a significant step forward in understanding the needs and concerns of diverse geographic and political regions so the public safety realm can provide the most advanced and efficient technologies and telecommunications methods globally.”
APCO Global Congress received strong support from its corporate partners and sponsors, including OnStar, Alcatel-Lucent, Motorola Solutions and Harris. Strong support and endorsement were also received from strategic partners including Dubai Civil Defence, Nedaa Corporation and Dubai Corporation for Ambulance Services.
Major Ali and Terry Johnson of Dubai Civil Defence said, “We are very happy to be here and very willing to support the conference. We will support this and any event in the future. This brings a lot of value to our community.”
More information about this year’s event can be found at www.apcoglobalcongress.org.
