ASAP to the PSAP: Reducing 9-1-1 Processing Time by Minutes for Alarm Notifications Between Alarm Monitoring Companies

& 9-1-1 PSAPsBill Hobgood, Project Manager, City of Richmond, DIT Public

Safety Team & Project Coordinator, APCO International

Bonnie Locke, Director of Business Development, Nlets

Agenda

The ASAP StandardHow it WorksPSAP ExperiencesCentral Station ImplementationsCurrent StatusQuestions & Answers

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 a New 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-BasedXMLConverted from Custom Template to GJXDM then to NIEM

►No Longer a Pilot; in full production

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

By The Numbers

PSAPs – 6,500 primary & secondaryPolice/Fire/Med Agencies – 20,000+Central Station Dispatches 22,800,000 annually1

15,000 to Richmond’s 9-1-1 PSAP150,000 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.

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

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 PSAP

Telephone Call VolumeFrom Alarm Companies

Alarm Monitoring Company Public Safety PSAP

Automated Secure Alarm Protocol - Goals

Eliminate miscommunication between the Alarm Monitoring Company

operators and the9-1-1 PSAP call-takers

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

I can’t hear you, call back.

Miscommunication&

Mistakes

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 Time

ASAP to the PSAP – Comparative Analysis

Traditional Delivery Versus Use of ASAP

Alarm Co Processes

Telephone Call

Ringing

Gather Information

Dispatch Units

Without ASAP: Delivery via Telephone

Alarm Co Processes

No Phone Call

No Gathering InformationProcess Data

Dispatch Units

With ASAP………..

1 ½ - 3 minutes or more

15 seconds or less

ASAP – Outcomes in Virginia

Richmond’s and York County’s Experiences► 15,000+ total alarm exchanges transmitted:

No telephone call; No call-taker involvementSpelling mistakes & accidental transposition of street address numbers eliminatedNo low volume headset issuesNo need to try to interpret accentsWorks efficiently regardless of how inundated 9-1-1 call takers may be

► Was…1½ min - average process time w/o repetitionup to 3 min (sometimes more) – process time for some alarm callsAlarm operators sometimes placed on hold for 8 – 10 minutesThe worse call in the PSAP

► Now…15 sec or less - average turnaround time via the interfaceThe most accurate and concise call in the PSAP

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 United States)• 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

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 delaysPSAP resources often limited; staffing shortages; overtimeNG9-1-1 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– Four 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 listPSAP 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

Current Events

Network Status – BREAKING NEWSCSAA Message Broker is Operational!!!!Richmond & Vector in Production (4/17/2012)

PSAP StatusASAP Operational PSAPsPSAPs engaged in testing & future PSAPs

Central StationsASAP Operational Central StationsFuture 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 ProvidersAlarm 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 trafficALQ = Alarm Data Sent by the Alarm Company to the PSAPALR = Responses from the PSAP to the Alarm CompanyORIs & Unique CSAA IDs used for routing messages

What is Nlets?

Computer-based message switching systemProvides information services and support for justice-related agencies applicationsRedundancy and back upServes 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 timeInnovative solutions driven by end user needsEducation on available services

About Nlets (continued)

Over 1 billionTransactions a year

900,000 PC, mobile and handheld devices in the U.S. and Canada

45,000 User agencies

1.3 millionIndividual users

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 SharingProactive AlertingLicense Plate ReadersTribal Nation SharingBulk Cash SmugglingExpansion of Data Sets through InterpolGeo-spatial MappingAutomated Secure Alarm Protocol (ASAP)What’s Next?

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 DesignXML Firewall housed within Nlets’ facility.Secure Certificate Authenticated hardware based VPN’s to

Central StationsCSAA Message Broker Server to consolidate Central

Station traffic housed within Nlets siteCSAA/Nlets routing wrappers

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 CY2012Additional fields have been added to the schema

Video confirmation link for PSAPs and field respondersAlarm service organizationX/Y coordinates in decimal degreesUniform 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 ANSOnly Schema 3.3 will work with the Message Broker

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 TeamCity of Richmond, Dept. of Information Technology900 E. Broad St., Room G-2Richmond, Va. 23219(804) 646-5140Cell (804) 240-0744Bill.Hobgood@Richmondgov.com

Bonnie Locke, Director of Business DevelopmentNletsPhone: (623) 308-3504Website: www.nlets.org