The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) endorsed the standard in January 2009. At that point, roughly a dozen agencies had expressed interest in adopting it, according to Bill Hobgood, public safety team project manager of the Richmond, Va., Department of IT. He led pilot testing of the standard in Richmond, which eliminated 5,000 calls during its two-year time span before APCO endorsed the standard. Hobgood said 60 agencies have now pledged to adopt or expressed interest in the technology.
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