Jack Keating, president of the 13,000 member association, said, "The title of the television show 20/20 suggests perfect vision. But, in the case of the news segment Wednesday night, we believe the producers of the show aired a myopic, one sided, and grossly inaccurate program designed to discredit thousands of dedicated, and hard working telecommunications professionals who save hundreds of lives every week."

Keating noted that the program focused on "Rude Operators with Bad Attitudes," and portrayed 9-1-1 telecommunicators as callous and incompetent.

"The segment dwelled on several tragic and unfortunate mistakes. We do not deny that errors occur in the field of Public Safety Communications, but they are the exception to the outstanding performance of more than 250,000 professionals nationwide. In the time it took to air the 20/20 segment, dispatchers across the nation took thousands of 9-1-1 calls and helped to save many lives," Keating said.

Keating noted that the producers of 20/20 contacted APCO in producing the 9-1-1 segment. "We gave them information and we invited them to bring their cameras into an APCO Institute classroom, where we provide specialized training for dispatchers and supervisors. Even though the 20/20 camera crews visited Volusia County in Florida, they did not bother to stop at our headquarters only a few miles away. Nor did they use any of the information we gave them. We suggested to them that better training and technology can help to avoid mistakes. At APCO we train about 11,000 communications officials each year, from call takers to supervisors."

John Ramsey, executive director for APCO said, "We salute the dispatchers, supervisors, directors and technicians in Public Safety Communications who spend their careers helping people in crisis. In March, APCO launched a national public service announcement campaign designed to applaud these professionals. We run the PSAs in our magazine, Public Safety Communications/APCO Bulletin and in other selected city, state, and government magazines.

"Our first PSA featured hero of the month Paula Franklin of Maryland who helped to save an infant who nearly drowned in a bathtub. As she dispatched the ambulance, Paula instructed the mother how to perform CPR. When the ambulance arrived 3 1/2 minutes later, the baby girl was breathing and survived the accident," Ramsey said.

"For April, we are saluting Missey Hammack of Tennessee. Missey took the call from a couple driving on I-4 who saw paper, plastic, and finally fingers sticking out of a hole in the taillight of the car in front of them. Missey dispatched the Knox County Sheriff's Department and stayed with the couple as they relayed critical location information. Deputies stopped the car and saved a 19-year-old woman in the trunk. The woman had been abducted by her ex-boy friend, nearly suffocated, bound, and stuffed in the car trunk.

"These are just two of many thousands of stories 20/20 could showcase," Ramsey said. "APCO is constantly trying to improve Public Safety Communications through better training, better systems, and improved technology. Both Paula and Missey had received APCO training which may have helped them do a better job. Over the years, Public Safety Communications has dramatically reduced response time. Police, fire fighters, and emergency rescue personnel arrive in many cases in a matter of minutes to help accident victims.

"At APCO, we don't look for the one out of one thousand of one percent of dispatchers who make a mistake. We look for heroes. And we find them everyday. But when we salute people like Paula and Missey, they usually tell us they didn't do anything extraordinary. They invariably tell us, 'I'm not a hero. I was just doing my job.'"