During the 2022 Regular Legislative Session, HB414 was introduced. Part of this bill mandated that the Alabama 9-1-1 Board establish a certification program to train and certify public safety telecommunicators (PST) employed by primary Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs). Following passage by the House and Senate, HB414 was signed into law by Governor Ivey on April 14, 2022 becoming Act 22-387. In the latter half of 2022, Board staff began implementation of its Certification Program. An administrative rule-making occurred and resulted in Rule 585-X-5, Public Safety Telecommunicator Certification Program becoming effective in mid-October 2022.
Also during this timeframe, Board staff worked to gather data from its 85 Emergency Communication Districts (ECDs) and the primary PSAPs within each of those ECDs. Through these efforts, nearly 1,600 PSTs have been identified as employed by primary PSAPs and in need of certification according to the Code of Alabama, 1975, as amended. The Alabama 9-1-1 Board Public Safety Telecommunicator Program officially launched on January 3, 2023.
FAQs
Do you have questions about the program? Look through our FAQs.
Enrollment & Forms:
An initial requirement of the program is that every PST employed by a primary PSAP must be enrolled in Virtual Academy.
We have implemented a new process for PST reporting, replacing the previous method of submitting DocuWare forms. All PST-related tasks can now be managed through the Alabama 911 Board Central (ABC) app. The following tasks will now be handled exclusively through the app: adding or removing PSTs from your roster, uploading certifications, reporting CEUs or external training (excluding Virtual Academy courses), updating PST names and emails, checking certification compliance, registering or withdrawing from Board-hosted training, viewing registrants, and much more.
You can access the new app by clicking HERE. Once you submit your new account profile request, Board staff will receive a request to approve your account. We will approve it or email you with follow-up questions. The approval is not automatic, be aware that is a manual process and can take up to two business days from request. Currently, the ABC app is available to all ECD and PSAP leadership. In October, it will be accessible to all PSTs. If you have any questions or encounter issues when creating an account, please contact us at education@al911board.com. If you missed the "Talk About It Tuesday" session on August 13, you can watch it here. The video provides detailed information and step-by-step instructions on using the app with the functions you can access, in addition to things you should and shouldn't use it for and what other processes you will no longer utilize.
A few questions we have had so far from other PSAP leadership who have accessed the app already:
Q. "Will the app replace Virtual Academy to monitor PST Certifications and CEUs? Or do we still need to keep the Virtual Academy Training Logs updated? Should we keep both of them updated with CEUs? Are they integrated?"
A. The app DOES replace the VA repository for all external training (ex. classes, conference attendance, etc.) and certifications. However, any Virtual Academy online training that is done will still be housed on their site. VA sends us a weekly report imported into the ABC app for the online training. No need to download VA content certificates into the app.
Q.Is the new app where PSTs will get their certificates from the AL 911 Board-sponsored training?
A. Yes and no, and sort of. Each organization has different methods and preferences of certificate delivery. Our goal is to have all of them provided by us, with their template, so there is no need for them to email/mail/print. Plus, it would immediately be posted to the PST's account on the app. For now, you still need to upload the certificates/CEUs to the ABC app (not VA). When we make the automated process, we will announce it.
Q. Are Virtual Academy records linked to the ABC app ?
A. Any available courses from virtual academy will be automatically sent to us. The report is sent weekly on Monday mornings and may take 10-14 business days to be processed entirely and show up under your PST's education.
Q. I am trying to register one of my PSTs for a class and cannot find their name in the dropdown.
A. If you have yet to add your PST to the database, they will not show up. You need to add them as a new employee, then you can register them.
Q. I need to withdraw someone from a class they were registered for, they are unable to attend due to staffing
A. You can do this directly in the ABC app by clicking on the Training tab on the left side panel, and then select "My PSTs training schedule" at the top. You will then be able to view the PSTs that are registered and can select withdraw if necessary.
Q. How do I add someone who was previously employed with another primary PSAP in Alabama?
A. If you will navigate to the “Alabama 911” link on the side menu and then click the “Unaffiliated PSTs” tab, you should be able to find the PST by typing the last name. Then you click “Add to My PSTs” and it will prompt you to a form to change the hire date, email address, title, and whatever else you need to change. Any CEU or certifications they achieved will transfer with the PST.
*Disclaimer* We have an employee dedicated to standardizing and reviewing all training records, certifications, and CEUs. Due to this transition, the totals you currently see in the app may not be entirely accurate. It may take a couple of months to update everything as we're working through the records on a PSAP-by-PSAP basis so that timing will depend on your position in the rotation. If your records are current in Virtual Academy, you can still view and verify them there. Moving forward, however, only add new external training to the ABC app. Additionally, we have only given access to leadership currently as somewhat of a "soft launch". While transitioning, we are confident there will be pain points we discover on our own and through your experience while using it. We depend on you to notify us when you have something that needs our attention. There will be changes made daily or weekly that will continue to improve the app and its user experience.
Let us know if you have any questions. We are so excited about this new approach to streamline processes for you and us!
PST Certification Course Request for Payment Form - This form is to be used to request payment for a PST Certification course your agency utilized for certification of your PSTs. The cost of the course, books, etc. are eligible. You will need to upload your invoice and proof of payment, along with the roster or list of PSTs that attended the class. You may use one form for multiple people. Requests submitted by the 10th of the month are paid at the end of the month.
ALPST-1 Intent to Test Form - This form will be used by test proctors to request the Competency Exam be assigned in Virtual Academy. For more information, watch this webinar. The bulk of the content on the exam begins at minute 15:00. To help PSTs prepare for the competency exam, we have prepared a list of recommended courses in Virtual Academy. The list can be downloaded here.
CEUs
Board staff has put together a list of recommended CEUs. This list is not comprehensive but has included a large variety of opportunities for CEUs for telecommunicators. If you find a course/conference/class not listed here, please let us know so we can review and add it.
Webinars:
All webinars we have presented about the program are here.