Boulder Police and Fire Communications Receives National Certification

BOULDER, Colo. – The Boulder Police and Fire Communications Center is now nationally certified for its dispatcher training program.

Joining just 90 communications centers across the U.S. and Canada, Boulder’s communications center training program has been awarded certification through the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials’ (APCO) Agency Training Program Certification program. APCO is the world’s largest organization of public safety communications professionals. It serves the needs of public safety communications practitioners worldwide—and the welfare of the general public as a whole—by providing complete expertise, professional development, technical assistance, advocacy, and outreach.

“This validation serves as an expression of what we’ve known for a long time,” Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold said. “We have exceptional people doing excellent work in our communications center and we’re incredibly proud of this recognition. We appreciate all the great work our dispatchers do and would especially like to thank Dispatch Supervisor Courtney Simmer for taking the lead on this project for the past year.”

APCO P33 Certification is a certification program that provides a way for public safety agencies to certify that their training programs meet APCO American National Standards (ANS). The certification ensures that an agency’s curriculum, training materials, and supporting documentation are reviewed and checked for compliance. The certification adds value to communications agencies who partake in both C.A.L.E.A. and APCO programs.

“One of the many reasons we did this is because the State of Colorado does not have any training standards for 911 dispatchers,” Dispatch Manager Brad Riggin said. “This certification ensures we are meeting APCO training standards and if the State of Colorado moves towards required training standards for 911 dispatchers, our center will likely already meet or exceed them.”

Supervisor Simmer worked throughout the year updating, documenting, and organizing the center’s training program to reach the goal of meeting nearly 200 required standards.

“The certification also helps with consistency in our training program and there is a requirement to re-certify every three years, so our training program must be kept updated,” she said. “We had to ensure that trainees knew agency responsibilities, organizational integrity, proper application of written directive's, general knowledge and skills, knowledge of tools, equipment, and technology, professional competence, call taker and dispatcher responsibilities.”

The Boulder Police and Fire Communications Center will be recognized for this accomplishment in August 2024 at APCO’s national conference in Florida.

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