2020 Public Safety Industry Outlook

We’re six weeks into a new year and a new decade, and public safety leaders are focused on pursuing more funding, implementing unconventional approaches related to staffing, recruiting and retention, and implementing innovative strategies to modernize their public safety communications technologies and networks—all while keeping them secure from cyberattacks, which are increasing in frequency and complexity.

Recently, we hosted our first webinar of 2020, during which more than 100 public safety professionals shared their top budget priorities and marketing challenges. Upgrading public safety technology, such as legacy computer-aided dispatch (CAD) and records-management systems (RMS) was a prominent theme, with more than half of participants citing this as a key priority in their organization for the coming year. Transitioning to Next Generation 911 (NG911) and staffing, retention and organizational planning also were reemerging topics from previous years.

Utility Communications Networks Resemble a Spider’s Web

Last fall I attended a conference presented by the Utility Broadband Alliance (UBBA), which caters to utility companies that are interested in using wireless broadband technologies for their operational needs.

Security Training: A Key Element of a Strong Cyberrisk Prevention Program

According to a recent report by Crowdstrike, cybersecurity threats to state and local governments increased in sophistication in 2019. While there have been improvements in how government agencies detect attacks, assailants continue to be relentless and inventive in their efforts to find IT infrastructure gaps that can be exploited. In a highly complex digital environment full of cybercriminals looking to exploit your organization’s vulnerability, a self-inflected wound can be especially frustrating.

DAS and BDA Technology Might Seem the Same—But They’re Not

As we move about the public safety sector, we often hear a common misconception, which is that distributed antenna systems (DAS) and bidirectional amplifier (BDA) systems are the same. But while they generally serve the same purpose—which is to boost radio frequency (RF) signals to enhance in-building coverage—they are quite different. Let’s explore the basic differences.

Conferences like NENA’s SBP Are Key to Advancing Emergency Response

In the past, we’ve talked a lot about the critical role that standards play in the advancement of next generation 911 (NG911). They help to ensure interoperability between disparate solutions providers by reducing proprietary development and promoting open-source approaches to design. But as technology continues to change, standards and best practices development becomes even more important in addressing the issues that agencies continue to face when trying to fully implement NG911. That’s where conferences like the National Emergency Number Association (NENA)’s Standards & Best Practices come in.

URL Integration Acquisition Bolsters MCP’s Data-Integration Capabilities

When we launched MCP a little more than a decade ago, we established some pretty aggressive growth goals, especially for a firm that was operating out of a garage and had no clients at the very beginning. Nevertheless, each goal was met with room to spare. Our ability to do so hinged on a single, overarching, inflexible focus on delighting the client.

MCP Once Again Adds Critical Subject-Matter Expertise—and We’re Not Done

The public safety sector has been evolving rapidly over the past decade, and continues to do so. In fact, the evolution appears to be accelerating. Among the drivers are the implementation of the nationwide public safety broadband network by the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) and the emergence of Next Generation 911 and text-to-911 service.

2019: The Year in Review

This year has brought a lot of change, and excitement, to the public safety industry. From the announcement of 911 grant funding for states and tribal nations to advance their efforts to implement next generation 911 (NG911) to an increased, industry-wide focus on cybersecurity and preventing cyberattack, the groundwork has been laid for continued improvement for emergency response in 2020 and beyond.

Public Safety Data Harnessing is a Big, Vitally Important Job

On December 8, Mission Critical Partners (MCP) kicked off its tenth-annual, two-day extravaganza in Pittsburgh, an event that brings together all 125 MCP professionals from around the county, as well as keynote speakers and several clients. The purpose of the event is to discuss in detail emerging and industry-changing topics, network, inspire, and educate MCP professionals on the biggest topics impacting public safety.

The key theme that emerged at this year’s end-of-year event was the need for the public safety community to figure out ways to harness the tremendous amount of data that could be available to first responders in the nation’s emergency communications centers (ECCs) and in the field.

Why Public Safety Should Care About the Dark Web

Today, more public safety agencies are taking a serious look at how they can mitigate the risk of cyberattacks due to the dramatic spike in ransomware attacks on state and local governments. Such attacks often result in hefty ransom demands, with reports of demands as high as $400,000. One of the most well-known ransomware attacks of 2019 impacted 22 municipalities in Texas, with hackers requesting more than two million dollars in ransom payment to unlock the data.

Five Things Happening in Public Safety We’re Thankful for This Thanksgiving

As we kick off the start of the holiday season and give thanks for the successes of the past year, as well as the change underway in the public safety communications sector, there’s a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

Here’s what we’re thankful for.

Public Safety Broadband: So Many Choices

Earlier this month, T-Mobile announced a public safety broadband offering, with the caveat that it is contingent on their successful merger with Sprint. Details about the offering were limited, but the important issue is that this is now the third major wireless broadband carrier, joining AT&T/FirstNet and Verizon Wireless, to potentially offer specialized features to first responders. This raises a couple of important questions: What does this all mean to public safety; and how do public safety agencies choose the network that’s right for them?