9.16.24 – SSI – Morgan Hertel
PSAP implementation eases staffing burdens and maintains an open line of communication across the public safety industry.
ASAP to PSAP is the alarm industry’s electronic platform on which a monitoring center can create an electronic message to law enforcement, the fire department or emergency medical services to request a call for service or dispatch.
It is a national service intended to increase the efficiency and reliability of emergency services.
The goal of this article is to get SSI readers up to speed and help them understand why this is important to the industry and to them.
The platform was initiated more than a decade ago as a collaboration between what is now The Monitoring Association (TMA) and the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO).
Out of that collaboration, which was code-named Project 36 back then, came an ANSI standard that could be used to exchange data, in both directions, between a computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system located at the public safety answering point (PSAP) or emergency communications center (ECC) and an alarm monitoring company.
A History Lesson
The original goal was to allow for monitoring centers to be able to perform a digital dispatch to a pre-verified address in seconds, with 100% accuracy and no chance of getting the address wrong.
In light of how new that goal was to everyone at the time, this was a monumental task that required coordination between the CAD vendors, monitoring centers, monitoring automation vendors, National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (NLETS) and TMA, which would build and maintain the message brokers that manage and send all those messages in both directions.
If we fast-forward to today (and after several revisions to the standard), all of the bigger monitoring centers, as well as many of the mid-sized and smaller centers, are connected to the ASAP messaging platform. In fact, more than 80% of all monitored sites in the U.S. are being monitored by a professional monitoring center that is ASAP-capable. That’s a significant accomplishment.
Most of the monitoring center automation platforms like MAS and Bold (SGS, SIMS, Manitou) natively support ASAP to PSAP and have been certified to work properly. There are several other automation systems that are in the pipeline to be certified and then will be able to connect.
Today, the platform has just shy of 150 PSAPs connected to the network, which covers approximately 20% of the U.S. population. This slow growth has been attributed to the pace at which PSAPs upgrade their CAD systems.
New PSAPs Getting Onto the Network
However, over the last 12 to 18 months, we are seeing an increased number of new PSAPs getting onto the network as the pipeline fills up.
In early 2023, TMA started a process to build the next messaging platform — a process consisting of writing a complete Request for Proposal to do the work. The RFP alone was more than 50 pages and was the work-product of a dozen technologists and developers.
Ultimately, it was given to five different companies for bids to present a strategy. After an 18-month process, the contract was awarded to and signed with Misson Critical Partners.
That contract was for a lot of things, but the short version boils down to building the next generation of technology, initiating an aggressive marketing campaign and managing the platform on a day-to-day basis.
There is a contractual goal to have 80% of the U.S. population covered by ASAP by the end of 2028. It will be a multi-million-dollar effort to get us, as an industry, where we need to be, while also positioning us to be good partners with public safety.
In the new platform, we are going to be extending the ability to share more rich data, including things like interactive material and command and control. Since we already have 80% of the sites connected, as each PSAP/ECC comes online, they instantly get the traffic off their phones and onto the network.
Why PSAP Connection is Important
The one question is why this is important. And, although there are more reasons than the space in this article will allow, here are the main ones to remember:
- It’s fast and efficient. We can get help when and where it’s needed in seconds versus calling in, potentially waiting on hold and only then giving the telecommunicator our information. And it’s done with 100% accuracy — no misheard words or jumbled numbers.
- Second, our public-safety partners have staffing problems just like the rest of us do. If we can take some of that load off of them, they can focus on speaking with the community.
- Lastly, by our industry doing this as a not-for-profit project, we maintain open access and an enhanced ability to contact public-safety organizations. That is the gold standard, and it will be for the foreseeable future.
I encourage all monitoring stations and installation companies to participate and promote the advantages of using the service. It’s available to every UL-listed center in the U.S. and as an extension to any dealer using a connected monitoring center.
For more information, check out a full explanation on TMA’s website. It provides a list of participating monitoring centers and PSAPs, along with a lot of other information.
Remember: This is our business. Making things better and safer is what we do.
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About the Author
Morgan Hertel
Morgan Hertel is Vice President of Technology and Innovation for Rapid Response Monitoring.