10 minutes with… Geoff Spring

Challenges from reduced funding and rising public expectations, spectrum availability and allocation, and the ability to enable innovation, are major factors likely to affect public safety communication, according to the chairman of APCO Australasia, Geoff Spring.

Spring believes that from now until 2020 will be a time of fundamental change for the industry as it gets to grips with the opportunities offered by next-generation technologies such as broadband providing innovation in service delivery through public-private sector partnerships.

He said leadership will be essential to achieve these goals with the flexibility to look at other sectors such as finance, entertainment and transport to identify common trends and drive standards-based solutions to common issues.

Spring has been involved with the collaboration of the Global Alliance of APCO Partners to produce a corporate plan that defines the market and sector for public safety communicators and information management technologies.

The Global Alliance consists of four organisations: APCO Australasia, APCO International, British APCO and APCO Canada. Its role includes providing information and resources to the public safety communication sector around the world.

“The ability to define the market and sector for the public safety industry will allow the organisation to support public safety agencies to compete against other sectors for funding to continue to deliver the services expected by communities in a time of global fiscal constraint.

“Only time will tell if we are successful,” Spring said.

He has seen many changes since joining the organisation, with many representative bodies cooperating with the Global Alliance to influence numerous industry decisions made by governments, regulators and standard development organisations.

An example of this collaboration was with TETRA + Critical Communications Association where the Global Alliance was able to give advice to key decision makers about the need to continue to invest in mission-critical land mobile radio.

Spring became involved in public safety communications after being offered a position as project manager for the computer-aided dispatch system for Victoria’s emergency service organisations.

He expected the role to be reasonably straightforward, little did he know that it would become one of the world’s first public safety communications public private partnership projects based on the principle of build own and operate (PPPBOO).

“Perhaps the emphasis should have been on the ‘BOO’ because it turned out to be a project with so many surprises and challenges,” said Spring.

The project brought fundamental and dramatic cultural change to the emergency services environment in Victoria. Now known as the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA), the organisation operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week with over 600 staff.

In the last two years (2010/11), the authority managed almost two million emergency and non-emergency calls, which equates to about one call every 16 seconds, with about 1.5 million dispatches requiring emergency services response.

“While it was an extremely stressful time for all involved, it was extremely satisfying each time a new phase of the project was commissioned,” Spring said.

He joined APCO Australasia after responding to a public invitation for independent director positions on the board.

“I think anyone in public safety communications eventually comes into contact with the global APCO brand. You have to recognise and respect the history, the knowledge and the achievements made by the brand in public safety communications globally,” said Spring.

Looking into the future of public safety communications, he is positive. He believes although there will be difficult periods for the industry, there are also exciting times ahead.

“As long as I think that I am making a difference, then I will continue to try and influence decision makers to make the world a safer place.”