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ASAP to the PSAP: Reducing 9-1-1 Processing Time

by Minutes for Alarm Notifications Between Alarm

Monitoring Companies 9-1-1 PSAPs

August 20, 2012

Bill Hobgood, Project Manager, City of Richmond, DIT Public

Safety Team & Project Coordinator, APCO International

Steve Correll, Executive Director, Nlets

Agenda

� The ASAP Standard

� How it Works

� PSAP Experiences

� Central Station Implementations

� Current Status

� Nlets Overview

� Questions & Answers

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Acronyms and Definitions

►APCO - Association of Public Safety Communications Officials

►ASAP – Automated Secure Alarm Protocol

►CSAA – Central Station Alarm Association

►NIEM – National Information Exchange Model

►NLETS – The International Justice & Public Safety Sharing Network

►PSAP – Public Safety Answering Point

Case Study – The Automated Secure Alarm Protocol

(ASAP)

The Birth of an American National Standard

Official ANS Name: APCO/CSAA 2.101.1-2008 ANS Alarm Monitoring Company to PSAP CAD External Alarm Interface Exchange

Adoption Date: January 15, 2009

►Standards-Based– XML– Converted from Custom Template to GJXDM then to NIEM

►No Longer a Pilot; in full production

►Rebranded [April 2011]: The Automated Secure Alarm Protocol (ASAP)

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By The Numbers

� PSAPs – 6,500 primary & secondary

� Police/Fire/Med Agencies – 20,000+

� Central Station Dispatches 22,800,000 annually1

� 15,000 to Richmond’s 9-1-1 PSAP

� 150,000 to the Houston Emergency Center

� PSAPs 2010 Call Volume 250,000,000 annually

1 Source: Security Industry Alarm Coalition

Automated Secure Alarm Protocol - Purpose

To provide a standard data exchange for electronically transmitting

information between an Alarm Monitoring Company and a Public

Safety Answering Point (PSAP).

Generic Explanation: The exchange replaces the telephone calls

between the Alarm Monitoring Company operator and the 911

PSAP call-taker.

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How ASAP Works

Initial Notification of New Alarm Event

Three Primary Uses

• Central Station initiates notification of new alarm event

•Central Station Incident Number Sent to PSAP

How ASAP Works

Three Primary Uses

• Acknowledgement by PSAP that notification has been

Accepted or Rejected

• PSAP Incident Number Returned to Alarm Company

PSAP’s Response & Acknowledgement

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How ASAP Works

Three Primary Uses

• Updates from Alarm Company

• Key-holder information• Request to cancel dispatch

• Response to PSAP questions

Bi-Directional Status & Response Updates

• Updates from the PSAP

• Resources dispatched• Resources arrived on scene

• Call closure with disposition• Request for information

Automated Secure Alarm Protocol - Goals

Goal #1

Eliminate the telephone calls between

the Alarm Monitoring Company and

the 9-1-1 PSAPTelephone Call VolumeTelephone Call VolumeTelephone Call VolumeTelephone Call VolumeFrom Alarm CompaniesFrom Alarm CompaniesFrom Alarm CompaniesFrom Alarm Companies

Alarm Monitoring CompanyAlarm Monitoring CompanyAlarm Monitoring CompanyAlarm Monitoring CompanyPublic Safety PSAPPublic Safety PSAPPublic Safety PSAPPublic Safety PSAP

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Automated Secure Alarm Protocol - Goals

Eliminate miscommunication between

the Alarm Monitoring Company

operators and the

9-1-1 PSAP call-takers

I can’t understand you.How do you spell that street?

I can’t hear you, call back.

Mistakes&

Miscommunication

Goal #2

Automated Secure Alarm Protocol - Goals

Goal #3

Decrease processing & response

times to alarm-related calls-for-

service with an increase in law

enforcement apprehensions made,

fires more quickly extinguished,

and lives saved.Processing &

Response Times

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ASAP to the PSAP – Comparative Analysis

Traditional Delivery Versus Use of ASAP

Alarm Co Alarm Co Alarm Co Alarm Co ProcessesProcessesProcessesProcesses

Telephone Telephone Telephone Telephone CallCallCallCall

RingingRingingRingingRinging

Gather Gather Gather Gather InformationInformationInformationInformation

Dispatch Dispatch Dispatch Dispatch UnitsUnitsUnitsUnits

Without ASAP: Delivery via Telephone

Alarm Co Alarm Co Alarm Co Alarm Co ProcessesProcessesProcessesProcesses

No Phone No Phone No Phone No Phone CallCallCallCall

No Gathering No Gathering No Gathering No Gathering InformationInformationInformationInformationProcess Process Process Process DataDataDataData

Dispatch Dispatch Dispatch Dispatch UnitsUnitsUnitsUnits

With ASAP………..

1 ½ - 3 minutes or more

15 seconds or less

ASAP – Outcomes in VirginiaRichmond’s and York County’s Experiences

► 16,000+ total alarm exchanges transmitted:

– No telephone call; No call-taker involvement

– Spelling mistakes & accidental transposition of street address numbers eliminated

– No low volume headset issues

– No need to try to interpret accents

– Works efficiently regardless of how inundated 9-1-1 call takers may be

► Was…

– 1½ min - average process time w/o repetition

– up to 3 min (sometimes more) – process time for some alarm calls

– Alarm operators sometimes placed on hold for 8 – 10 minutes

– The worse call in the PSAP

► Now…

– 15 sec or less - average turnaround time via the interface

– The most accurate and concise call in the PSAP

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ASAP – Outcomes in Houston, Texas

Houston’s Experience Since April 28, 2011

► Demographics

• 634 square miles (10 times larger than Richmond, Va)

• 2.3 million people (4th most populous city in the U.S.)

• 4th largest 9-1-1 PSAP in the United States

► Consistent 13% Drop in the Number of Police Alarms Handled by a Call-taker :

• Houston receives more than 2,600 police alarms weekly

• 43,000 alarm systems monitored by 3 participating alarm

companies

► Non-Emergency Telephone Call Volume Reduced by 15%

► Potential Savings of $1 - $2 million annually

Houston’s Emergency Center

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PSAP Challenges That ASAP Can Help► PSAP telephone call taking process

� Call-takers must place priority in answering 9-1-1 calls

� Alarm companies call on 7-digit numbers; frequent answer delays

� PSAP resources often limited; staffing shortages; overtime

� NG9-1-1 to allow citizens to send texts, pictures, and video: PSAP resources to be stretched even further

► Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) providers

– Dozens of CAD providers versus 6 - 7 alarm automation providers

– Six CAD tier one providers have or developing a solution

– Many others have expressed interest but waiting on PSAPs to come forward

– Outreach efforts must continue

► ASAP is an ANSI-standard based on open standards

– One size fits all no matter how small or large the agency

– CAD providers can develop interface once and market many times

– Non-vendor specific

Alarm Industry Challenges/Responsibilities►Addresses must sync to PSAP’s address file (MSAG/Geo-file)

– Bulk address validations

▪ From new participating alarm company to PSAPs already participating with the ASAP program

▪ To new participating PSAP from alarm companies already participating with the ASAP program

▪ Address validations confirm that address is correct within the participating jurisdiction only

▪ Does not account for addresses assigned to the wrong PSAP in the alarm company’s DB

▪ Alarm companies will be responsible for using a 3rd party service for ESN resolution

– New account address validations

▪ Performed automatically by alarm company’s automation software when new account added

►Alarm monitoring companies must use event types from standardized list

– PSAP decides up front which alarm types it will receive (e.g. law, fire, and/or EMS)

– PSAP decides how to translate each alarm event type

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Current Events

� Network Status – BREAKING NEWS

� CSAA Message Broker is Operational!!!!

� Richmond & Vector in Production (4/17/2012)

� Houston/Vector/United Central Control in Production

� PSAP Status

� ASAP Operational PSAPs

� PSAPs engaged in testing & future PSAPs

� Central Stations

� ASAP Operational Central Stations

� Future Central Stations to Join ASAP

Current Project Status

• CSAA approved as a Nlets Strategic Partner Organization (May, 2011)

– CSAA implementing a CSAA managed message broker server at Nlets

• Testing has been completed

• Updated IEPD & schema 3.3 released to Automation and CAD Providers

– Alarm companies, both CSAA & Non-CSAA members can participate

• 75+ charter alarm companies to come on board first (including ADT)

• Likely to swell to 300 alarm companies over next 2 - 3 years

• Potential participation by up to 600 alarm companies over next 5 -10 years

• Nlets has assigned two new Message Keys for alarm traffic

– ALQ = Alarm Data Sent by the Alarm Company to the PSAP

– ALR = Responses from the PSAP to the Alarm Company

– ORIs & Unique CSAA IDs used for routing messages

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What is Nlets?

• Standards Based Hardware and Network Solution

– Provides information services and support for

justice-related agencies applications

– Redundancy and HOT Dr site in KY

– Serves all U.S. states and territories, Federal

agencies with a justice component, and select

regional and international agencies

• Delivering the right information at the right time

– Innovative solutions driven by end user needs

– Education on available services

System & Network Statistics• On track for 1.5 BILLION Transactions in 2012

• System Uptime

– YTD: 99.94%

• Network Uptime

– YTD: 99.98%

• Avg. Round Trip Message Response Time

– YTD: 1.51 seconds

• Top Message Keys

– RQ, DQ, IPQ, CR, AM

• Top Users

– CBP, TX, IP, CA, MI

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Nlets Information Exchanges

• Driver and vehicle registration

• Criminal history records

• State wanted persons data

• Sex offender registry

• Probation and parole registry

• Concealed carry databases

• State warrant records

• Driver license and corrections

images

• Interpol

• Data from Canada and Mexico

• Homeland Alert messages

• LEO Flying Armed

• INS databases at LESC

• Amber Alerts

• Severe weather warnings

• Aircraft registrations

• GSA federal/diplomatic plates

• And hundreds more!

� Legacy Services for… � …and Access To

Nlets Projects

• DL & Corrections Interstate Photo Sharing

• Proactive Alerting

• License Plate Reader National Index

• Tribal Nation Sharing

• Bulk Cash Smuggling

• Geo-spatial Mapping

• Automated Secure Alarm Protocol (ASAP)

• What’s Next?

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Nlets & ASAP to the PSAP

Nlets- Is The Preferred Transport for ASAP Traffic

� Infrastructure is in place.

� Safe and secure Communications

� Intelligent Routing Scheme

� In operation to Thousands of PSAPs

�Trusted by PSAPs

�Preferred by the Central Station Alarm Association

Nlets – CSAA High Level Design

� Nlets–CSAA High Level Design�XML Firewall housed within Nlets’ facility.

�Secure Certificate Authenticated hardware based VPN’s to

Central Stations

�CSAA Message Broker Server to consolidate Central

Station traffic housed within Nlets site

�CSAA/Nlets routing wrappers

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Nlets & ASAP to the PSAP

• For Nlets this is a fairly simple pass through via the secure Nlets system and network to the states then via the state network to the local PSAPs• This is going to take off fast!

• PSAPs are anxious to reduce call time and save valuable resources

• CAD system vendor partners are modifying their software updates to support these transactions!• Talk to your CAD provider today!

Expanding the ASAP – ASAP Phase II

(Schema 3.3)

• ASAP ANS up for review in CY2012

• Additional fields have been added to the schema

– Video confirmation link for PSAPs and field responders

– Alarm service organization

– X/Y coordinates in decimal degrees

– Uniform list of information messages

– Reject messages from the Message Broker or the PSAP

– Accept message from the PSAP

– Fields can be used before next release of ANS

– Only Schema 3.3 will work with the Message Broker

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Q&AAPCO International 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.

Questions & Thank You for Attending!!!

For More Information:• APCO: www.apco911.org email: asap@apcointl.org• External Alarm Interface Exchange ANSI, Fact Sheet, FAQs, IEPD

• http://www.apco911.org/911-resources.html , Navigate to “ASAP”• IEPD available at www.niem.gov (Tools > Work with IEPDs > Search for IEPD

(Keyword “Alarm”)• Central Station Alarm Association: www.csaaual.org• Nlets: www.nlets.org

Bill Hobgood, Project Coordinator,

APCO International

& Project Manager, Public Safety Team

City of Richmond, Dept. of Information Technology

900 E. Broad St., Room G-2

Richmond, Va. 23219

(804) 646-5140

Cell (804) 240-0744

Bill.Hobgood@Richmondgov.com

Steve Correll, Executive Director

Nlets

Phone: (623) 308-3500

Website: www.nlets.org