Apologies: Peter Goulding

1.     Welcome from Sue.

2.     Debrief of the event held in June 2011 as follows:

a.     Good turnout, good lay out of space, participation pro-active, facilitation excellent.  Only negative comments
from feedback were that people did not understand Secricom presentation.

b.     More information needed on shared applications, databases such address gazetteers control room functions post fire control, joined up working with all emergency services.  Thoughts to take into account when planning our next event – although much of it already taken care of with North east event, BAPCO 2012 and the TSG
conference structure. GIS could be a good topic.

c.     Checklist for others planning regional events developed – separate document

d.     SE committee – Peter Goulding has left the Met Police and joined Motorola. He is keen to continue to work with
British APCO and Sue has asked if he will join the regional committee. SL will also contact Andy Fleet to see if he wants to continue as secretary.

e.     2012 calendar of events:

Sue has emailed the Cabinet Office to suggest a series of 3 TSG ‘super-regional’ events (mini road
show) in May and the annual TSG Symposium Oct/Nov 2012

BAPCO 2012 – April

SE region meeting – proposed in February – Visit to Inmarsat joint with a regional AGM. Date to be
confirmed.  All SE members will be invited if Inmarsat are prepared to host.

f.     SS suggested we have a small stand space at the Police Federation conference 15-17 May in Bournemouth
International Centre.  Contact for enquiries 01202 456400.. SL said this could -be broadened to include staff union conferences as well as other professional conferences for Fire & Rescue and Ambulance etc. SL to ask Colin Millar to
follow up.

g.     Agreed a single email for south east contact. Sue happy to monitor if it can be diverted to the VP
address. If not – Tracey will monitor and redirect.

Actions

1.     TL to send SL list of SE members for Inmarsat/AGM invite

2.     SL to write to SE members to invite to AGM at Inmarsat

3.     SL to contact Andy Fleet

4.     SL to ask CM to follow up stands at PolFed and other conferences

5.     TL to investigate email situation with diverting to the vp@bapco.org.uk address.

6.     TL to send SS claim forms

High quality mobile broadband data services are now widely available. The question facing public safety organisations and other industry verticals is how to access broadband services in conjunction with their existing TETRA or similar networks in a way that is reliable, robust and resilient?

All the attendees agreed that there is no easy solution ahead in Europe given the current economic conditions and the lack of any coherent strategy at national government and regulatory levels.    However, what emerged is that for very practical reasons it will be an evolutionary process, rather than a revolutionary one. More must be leveraged from existing systems with hybrid solutions the probable way forward.

More spectrum for broadband purposes is an absolute must if the emergency services and other verticals who require it for business critical reasons are to have access to the kind of functionality TETRA and similar systems provide.  Spectrum is the key, but that means the EC, individual governments and their regulators need to be made aware of the urgency of the matter, as only they can make this valuable national asset available.

The PMR user community in general, and its suppliers, need to build a strong, single voice to make their case heard. Decisions need to be made in the next few years or the chance for more spectrum will be lost for another 15-20 years.

Trade organisations, particularly those that are established to aid the deployment of specific technologies, often suffer from a lack of direction once a technological phase is complete. Arguably, their reason for existence starts to erode as their membership becomes expert and well-informed.  That was becoming the case at British APCO, the newly rebranded BAPCO, an organisation that provides a forum for professionals in public safety and civil contingencies communications and IT.  However, far from quietly disappearing from organisations’ agendas, British APCO is reinventing itself just as the industry faces a new technology cycle with the deployment of LTE and other 4G mobile broadband technologies.  There’s a requirement for the organisation to respond to the need for education and information once again, and it has been busy realigning itself in the last year to address that need initiatives.

British APCO’s current executive director, Tony Antoniou explains ‘The organisation was very much at a crossroads.  It wasn’t being effective and wasn’t doing the things it exists to do.’

Antoniou says, ‘I wanted to rebrand heavily, go back to our roots and set out what our values are to make the organisation relevant to the 21st century,’ he adds.

That involved spending time with US APCO. ‘I went over there and took all the good stuff that we can apply,’ says Antoniou. “In many respects, the market dynamics now are similar to those at the time of BAPCO’s inception in the early 1990s.  When TETRA first came to market, a lot of people had no idea what was going on and we were needed to represent the user base to the supplier base,’ he explains. ‘We find ourselves at a similar time. TETRA is not going away, but we have a whole bunch of very relevant new technologies to address.’

The market dynamics give British APCO a renewed vision. ‘Things have taken a very viral tack of late,’ explains Antoniou. ‘Nobody planned this, it just happened. An organisation in Hampshire has done one thing, while one in Newcastle has done another, for example. That generates as many questions as it does answers. There’s a whole bunch of newness that has to be embraced quickly and brings a total breath of life for British APCO.

‘My first conversations on taking on the role were that we didn’t have a crusade, or at least not a clearly identified one. Now, we have multiple crusades and by that I mean there’s a job for us to do.’

Antoniou sees applications, 4G and LTE in particular, as the technical issues. However, new models such as public-private partnerships will need to be better understood. He also wants the organisation to address education, training and accreditation, as well as spectrum harmonisation and what’s happening in other EU countries.

‘It’s all about delivering value add for the members,’ he says. ‘You can layer on top of that social media and all the alternative channels, there’s a massive amount to do.’

That obviously can’t be addressed in isolation within the UK. ‘We’ve recognised the need to be part of a global alliance,’ adds Antoniou. ‘You can’t exist in a solitary way anymore.’

Antoniou is also strengthening links with US APCO. ‘It has a very different membership profile,’ he says. ‘Our members include many of the senior ranks across all three blue light services while the US organisation has a large membership among control room operators. We need to get stronger representation on the control room floor.’

Lack of focus

Another issue facing the organisation is its annual event, held in London. In recent years, the event has stagnated with lower attendance and a lack of focus. Antoniou plans to radically reorganise the organisation’s approach to events.

‘My criticism of the event is fair,’ he says. ‘It’s a rubbish location, it’s expensive to attend, the format is worn and not pertinent to these initiatives and campaigns. The new model for an annual show is one of having villages of interests comprising tents of knowledge exchange.

‘While there will be an exhibition to bring it all together, what sits in these specifically themed sub-events and areas will be of greatest interest and more closely match what we are doing as an organisation. The old event had become extremely dull – there will be no more of that.’

Antoniou feels the organisation has turned around and is now in a good position to better address the needs of its members. ‘The less exciting bit, if you like, has been done, what was broken is now fixed and we are now seeing the fruits of that. Now we can focus on the initial aspirations we had when I joined and continue to keep pace as new needs continue to drive change.’

I am very pleased to be able to announce the appointments made at the AGM held on the 3^rd June 2010.

Chairman.                                                                             David Worsley.

Secretary.                                                                              John Blundell.

Executive Committee Representative.                     Neil Storey

Commercial Advisory Group Representative.       Andy Preston

Roadshow  Representative.                                            Aaron Goddard

Committee Member                                                        Dawn Griffiths

Committee Member                                                        Dave Pring

Two further appointments deserve special mention:

The Region is very fortunate as it is the local Group for Ken Mott a founding member, Life President and the former Chief Executive of BAPCO. Ken has agreed to be a Committee Member and will be an invaluable addition to the team.

David Seelhoff has agreed to accept the post of Vice Chairman. As many will know David has been the Chairman of the region for the past fourteen years and has also undertaken the role of Executive Committee Representative at the same time. This is a tremendous personal contribution to BAPCO. Access to his considerable experience and knowledge will be a great help to the new committee.

The Committee is now planning its activity for the year ahead and is currently looking to run a seminar in November. If members have ideas on subjects to be covered, places to visit or interesting speakers, suggestions are always welcome. Please contact me or any of the Committee Members.

David Worsley

Chairman 07919 492308

Pete Prater was appointed Chair of the Region in March 2007.  Previously he has served BAPCO since 1994 as Secretary to the Region and Secretary and Chair to the Association Commercial Advisory Group.  For his services to BAPCO he was awarded Life Membership in 2005.  Peter served in the Royal Corps of Signals for 15 years before becoming an independent technical and management consultant in 1996 since when he has worked on a variety of emergency service telecommunications related projects.  Peter joined Frequentis UK in April 2009 as Key Account Manager with specific responsibility for the Metropolitan Police Service relationship.

Jeremy Habberley.  Jeremy joined BAPCO in 2006 and has been a member of the South West and South Wales Regional committee since 2010.  He has worked for Sepura PLC for the past 5 years, supplying TETRA radio terminals for the Airwave network to the UKs police forces and ambulance trusts, with specific responsibility for the South West and Southern Wales area.  Prior to joining Sepura, he was Sales Director for i2 Mobile Solutions supplying mobile data systems into both the private and public sectors.

Graham Weeks.  Graham joined BAPCO in 1995 and has been a member of the South West Regional committee for a number of years.  He has 32 years of Sales & Marketing experience within the Communications industry having dealt with various sectors including Law Enforcement, Government, Defence, Security, and Network Telecoms.  He has worked for a number of blue chip companies including Racal, Motorola, Allen, Andrew and Cobham covering territories in the UK, Europe, North America, Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.  He is currently Regional Sales Manager with Cobham Antennas, a division of Cobham plc.

Phil Jefferson.  Phil joined BAPCO in 2004 and has been a South West & South Wales committee member for the past 3 years. Phil has 14 years Sales & Marketing experience working across both private and public sector. Following an early sales career in blue chip FMCG corporations, he moved to SunGard Public Sector in 2004 and has worked with all the Public Safety organisations in the UK on a wide range of projects and solutions. Phil is currently Head of Outsourcing & Managed Services at SunGard.