WASHINGTON, DC - The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International today announced the next phase of an effort to develop information exchange reference standards for sharing information between computer aided dispatching (CAD) systems from various vendors and with other systems such as alarm and mapping. The announcement was made at the Closing Session of the APCO International 71st Annual Conference and Exposition held at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, Colo., Aug. 21-25.
A coalition of public and private organizations will collaborate to set the standards, which are an extension of the preliminary work conducted by APCO’s Project 36. This new collaborative effort will expand to include other critical message formats and content.
APCO International will designate public safety communications and operations practitioners to serve on working groups appropriate to the exchanges as well as the vetting and resolution processes associated with such standards development. The exchanges will be documented and published following the recently developed processes for defining information exchange document descriptions that employ the Global Justice XML Data Model (GJXDM).
The Integrated Justice Information System (IJIS) Institute, under funding provided by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, will provide logistical and staff support for the standards effort, and will solicit the direct input from its 140 member companies to draft the information exchange standards.
The Law Enforcement Information Technology Standards Council is also working with the IJIS Institute to collaborate in this development.
“APCO International intends to continue working closely with the DHS’ Office for Interoperability and Compatibility and the National Incident Management System (NIMS) Integration Office in ensuring that the exchange standards will support homeland security developments and National Information Exchange Model (NIEM),” APCO International President Greg Ballentine said.
Work on developing the draft information exchange standards will begin immediately and the intent is to have many of the specific exchanges approved and ready for publication in 2006.
About APCO International
The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International, Inc. is the world’s oldest and largest professional organization dedicated to the enhancement of public safety communications. APCO serves the professional needs of its 14,000 members worldwide by creating a platform for setting professional standards, addressing professional issues and providing education, products and services for people who manage, operate, maintain and supply the communications systems used by police, fire and emergency medical dispatch agencies throughout the world. For more information, visit www.apcointl.org.