The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International have announced the official kickoff of APCO’s National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week (NPSTW) contest “Who is YOUR public safety superhero?” NPSTW is a week where communities across the U.S. recognise those who help save lives in times of personal or national crisis, and this year NPSTW will be celebrated April 11-17, 2021.

Conceived in 1981 by Patricia Anderson of the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office in California, Telecommunicators Week was created to raise public awareness of the hard work and dedication of public safety telecommunicators. In October 1991, APCO International successfully lobbied to receive a formal proclamation by Congress, which was signed by President Bill Clinton, designating the second full week in April as National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week.

APCO’s NPSTW contest was initially created to get public safety telecommunicators to share how their agencies were celebrating the week. In recent years, APCO has asked those working in public safety telecommunications to send stories about the outstanding efforts of their co-workers and the things that made their teams successful. In recognition of the extra work and dedication required of public safety telecommunicators during the year 2020, this year’s theme is superheroes. Two agencies (one large and one small) will be awarded prizes; all entries must be received by 9 a.m. ET on April 19 to be considered.

Last year’s contest was suspended due to the pandemic as APCO shifted efforts to providing COVID-19 related resources to its members. For that reason, the 2020 winners are declared as they stood on March 25, 2020. APCO congratulates Lincoln County (N.C.) E9-1-1 who won in the category for small agency and Montgomery County (Md.) 9-1-1 Emergency Communications Center who won in the category for large agency.