Next Week’s CAPS Explores Public-Safety Opportunities & Challenges

Having attended dozens of educational conferences over the decade that I served as editor-in-chief of Urgent Communications and Fire Chief magazines, I know an excellent one when I see it—and I can report without fear of contradiction that the second-annual Conference for Advancing Public Safety (CAPS)—being presented by Mission Critical Partners (MCP) on June 15-16—is shaping up to be an excellent educational event.

Full disclosure: I work for MCP as the firm’s content specialist. But that doesn’t change anything. CAPS was born last year as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which prevented people from traveling to trade shows and conferences. A light bulb turned on: we have more than 150 subject-matter experts (SMEs) at MCP who are extremely well-versed about all aspects of the public-safety and justice ecosystem—why don’t we bring the educational sessions to them?

So, we did, virtually, via a video-conferencing platform. Now we’re at it again. Next week we will present more than two dozen keynotes, educational sessions and panel discussions that feature many of the ecosystem’s thought leaders, in addition to our SMEs. The sessions touch on technology innovation, operational strategies, cybersecurity—a very hot topic—governance, and data integration—another very hot topic. The following are the sessions that I have on my radar screen:

Drones and Public Safety: What’s Next—This panel discussion will explore the use cases that are emerging for drones in the public-safety sector. Panelists also will discuss how drones can enhance emergency response, as well as the barriers to their use.

Public Safety’s Journey to the Cloud—Panelists will explore how cloud-based solutions are being deployed by public-safety agencies, the advantages and disadvantages of such solutions, and considerations that public-sector leaders should consider before implementing them.

The Modern Integrated Justice Information System—This session will examine how information sharing in the justice sector is evolving, the factors driving the evolution, and how it is likely to play out in the next few years.

LTE and Public Safety: What’s Next—Panelists will explore the current state of 4G Long-Term Evolution (LTE) usage in the public-safety sector, the impact of emerging 5G technology, and the current state of convergence between LTE and land mobile radio systems.

ESInet Models Overview—In this panel discussion the advantages and disadvantages of three very different deployment methods will be discussed.

Improving 911 Call Triage—In this panel discussion, experts will explore various ways that call handling of emergency calls can be improved, as well as tactics designed to also ease some of the burden on 911 telecommunicators.

Cybersecurity and the Public Sector: What We’ve Learned—During this session, public-sector leaders will share strategies and tactics that they've employed to improve their organization’s cybersecurity posture. They’ll also debate the merits of cybersecurity insurance and whether it should be leveraged to mitigate an agency's risk.

Chief Justice Harold Melton Keynote—The chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court will share his perspectives regarding the importance of data-integration within the justice sector, with an emphasis on the obstacles to achieving that vision and strategies for overcoming them.

More information on these sessions, and the entire CAPS 2021 can be found here—you’ll also be able to register for the conference by clicking on the link. I urge you to register—not only will you be able to virtually attend any of the sessions presented during the two-day conference, but you’ll also be able to attend any session that you missed after the conference ends, because are being archived and will be available to view for three months.

We’re looking forward to next week—hope that you are too.

Glenn Bischoff is MCP’s content specialist. He can be emailed at GlennBischoff@MissionCriticalPartners.com.