APCO International, or the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials, is the world’s oldest and largest organization of public safety communications professionals and supports the largest U.S. membership base of any public safety association. It serves the needs of public safety communications practitioners worldwide - and the welfare of the general public as a whole – by providing complete expertise, professional development, technical assistance, advocacy and outreach.
To learn more about APCO International, visit the organization's website.
David G. Swan (1939-2013) was the former Illinois APCO Historian and an APCO Life Member. He founded the chapter's collection in 1982 and worked with Bradley University to house the collection at the university library's Virginius H. Chase Special Collections Center in Peoria, IL. He worked with the collection until his retirement in 2010. A passionate advocate of preserving APCO history, Swan received the J. Rhett McMillian, Jr. Award of Distinction from APCO International in 2011. Following his death in 2013, the historical collection was renamed the David G. Swan APCO Historical Collection in his memory.
The collection houses a full set of the organization's publication, The APCO Bulletin, dating from 1935 to present. In addition to this publication, the collection houses more than 6,000 files of documents related to the history of APCO International, Illinois APCO and other APCO chapters. These documents include conference material, meeting minutes, correspondence, charters, projects and much more.
The collection is open to everyone.
Yes. On-site research is avaible at the Virginius H. Chase Special Collections Center in Peoria, IL. For more information, visit the Research Page.
Yes, you can perform both a basic search and an advanced search of our database. At this time, only the APCO Bulletin article database is fully accessible online.
For permission to use images and/or documents, fill out the form here.
Digitization of collection materials is an ongoing process. Currently, Illinois APCO employs Bradley University students to work on the collection. Their work includes digitizing material and uploading/linking the digitized versions to the site's database. As of May 2015, the students had digitized all issues of the APCO Bulletin from 1935 to the late 1980s. New material is expected to be available online as the digitization process continues.
For specific documents or articles, you can fill out a request form here. If you are in need of research assistance, please contact us.
Yes, fill out the form here to request copies of specific articles and/or documents based on your database search results.
Illinois APCO currently accepts donations of material relating to APCO history. Please contact us to discuss your donation, and we will assist you in determining whether your material is a good fit for our collection or if it would better benefit another collection.