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Jul 14, 2023

Column: FirstNet is a critical tool for public safety

By Bill Partridge For many investigators, experience at crime scenes and the wisdom developed through interactionswith witnesses and suspects alike helps to cultivate important tools – whether those

By Bill Partridge

For many investigators, experience at crime scenes and the wisdom developed through interactionswith witnesses and suspects alike helps to cultivate important tools – whether those are newinvestigative techniques, a better-honed instinct, or improved technologies to gather and analyzeevidence and to communicate with others in public safety.

Like anyone in any other professional field, our experiences drive us to do better and achieve more.In his recent testimony before Congress, Ed Davis, former Commissioner of the Boston PoliceDepartment, shared his experience with the Boston Marathon bombing and how it significantlyinfluenced his passion for improving the technology and communications resources available to publicsafety organizations.

Following the bombing, area resources were overwhelmed, and communications networks were floodedby emergency calls, family and friends calling one another to assure loved ones they were safe, and withwitnesses sharing their experiences. In Commissioner Davis’s own words, “Overwhelming numbers ofphone calls, texts, and internet searches rendered voice communications practically useless foreveryone, including the police officers on scene and those responding.”

In response, Commissioner Davis has been a strong advocate for FirstNet – the nation’s firstcommunications network dedicated to public safety. FirstNet provides communications priority and pre-emption to members of public safety so they can react and respond with real-time information.

Importantly, when commercial networks are overwhelmed, public safety on FirstNet stays connected.While we don’t share Commissioner Davis’s experiences around the marathon, we have undoubtedlyexperienced communications challenges here in Alabama, whether as a result of tornadoes or othersevere weather, or, in years past, as a result of sparse wireless coverage.

And – without question – those past experiences have led my team and me to recognize the value ofFirstNet.

My department has embraced technology and made it integral to our investigative process and criticalto our efforts to keep our community and region safe. Our team here in Oxford has established a globalreputation for their skilled and focused use of technology to serve our community and to servecommunities across Alabama and the southeast region.

FirstNet has helped us tie many technologies together, helping us deliver intelligence-led policing andprovide seamless communication and data flows.

Whether there are multiple agencies responding to a large-scale event or if we are responding to anemergency in remote areas of the Alabama hills – FirstNet has helped keep us connected andcoordinated within our department and across other agencies and jurisdictions.

In the coming months, Congress has an important decision before them. They must decide whether ornot to re-authorize FirstNet. Created by Congress following the terrorist attacks of September 11 th ,FirstNet was launched in 2018, and it has quickly become an indispensable tool for law enforcement andpublic safety.

In his testimony before Congress, Commissioner Davis also emphasized the importance and critical valueof “real-time data sources and proactive investigative tools”. FirstNet is the communications networkthat allows for the consistent flow of that essential investigative data.

I am thankful for the capabilities FirstNet delivers to my department, and it is incumbent upon Congressto reauthorize FirstNet.

Partridge serves as the chief of police and director of public safety for the City of Oxford.