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The 9-1-1 Take: Summer 2023
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The 9-1-1 Take with John Hunt
New FirstNet Authority leadership engages with 9-1-1
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The FirstNet Authority welcomed a new CEO and Executive Director earlier this year. Joe Wassel brings a wealth of experience in public safety communications and a vision of what’s next for FirstNet.
Part of Joe’s vision for the FirstNet Authority is to provide our nation’s first responders with the best, most reliable public safety broadband network experience that enables them to protect and serve our communities. To achieve that vision, he has spent his first 100 days engaging with the public safety community to better understand their needs. He has met with many members of the 9-1-1 community, with the goal of understanding your priorities and emerging issues to help shape the future of public safety broadband.
Meeting with the 9-1-1 community
Joe met with state 9-1-1 representatives at the summer meeting of the National Association of State 9-1-1 Administrators (NASNA). He shared his perspective on the role of the FirstNet Authority, emphasizing our focus as a government agency on education, training, awareness, and advocacy.
At the meeting, Joe talked about the opportunities for FirstNet Authority and the 9-1-1 community to work together even more closely. He recognizes that 9-1-1 is at the nexus of emergency response.
Joe also had the opportunity to participate in the National Emergency Numbers Association (NENA) annual conference, where he met with NENA leadership to discuss the role FirstNet can play today and in the future of 9-1-1.
At the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) annual conference, Joe and other FirstNet Authority executives met with leaders in the 9-1-1 community about opportunities to enhance emergency communications.
Visiting emergency communication centers
As part of his first 100 days as Executive Director and CEO, Joe visited with first responders across the country to hear firsthand about the challenges of their everyday jobs.
He went to New York City with FirstNet Authority Board members and staff to meet with the city's Office of Technology and Innovation's Public Safety and Emergency Management Division. They learned about how the division supports 9-1-1 operations, including using FirstNet in public safety response. The FirstNet Authority also led a discussion focused on the division's existing capabilities and their vision for future operations as FirstNet and technology advances.
The FirstNet Authority is confident in the ways FirstNet supports the full spectrum of emergency communications center (ECC) operations, from serving as the network transport for incoming calls to supporting remote call-taking and dispatching. The network plays a critical role in ensuring key information is shared from the ECC to the field—in real time and as authorized—during the initial incident response all the way through incident recovery.
9-1-1 leader on the FirstNet Authority Board
Another ECC visit was to the Alexandria Department of Emergency and Customer Communications in Virginia, where Joe spoke with telecommunicators to understand what they need from public safety broadband.
The leader of this department, Renee Gordon, was recently appointed as Vice Chair of the FirstNet Authority Board. Renee brings an important perspective as a seasoned 9-1-1 executive. At Alexandria, Renee has overseen the implementation of FirstNet to help bolster the center’s operations and pioneered remote call-taking and dispatch.
Renee is bringing that same innovative spirit to the FirstNet Authority Board’s efforts to advance FirstNet. “We need to see public safety as one,” she said. “Every community in the country deserves the same level of service—whether it's a tribal, rural, or urban community. And we can only get that by advancing technology and sharing ideas.”
Unique challenges for telecommunicators
As the subject matter expert for 9-1-1 at the FirstNet Authority, I’m excited by our new leadership’s renewed focus on ECC technology issues. Telecommunicators are the first first responders. During an emergency, 9-1-1 is the public’s first point of contact—which presents unique challenges for telecommunicators.
During his engagements at NASNA, NENA, APCO, and ECC site visits, Joe heard feedback about the challenges facing the 9-1-1 community. He listened to concerns about the timeline for implementing Next Generation 9-1-1, the ramifications of a nationwide staffing shortage to the ability to deliver service, and the need to focus on wellness to support telecommunicators’ physical and mental health.
Joe is committed to facing the top issues in 9-1-1 together. The FirstNet Authority will continue to champion public safety and work together to develop solutions to ever-evolving challenges.
Your experience
What are your priorities for the future of FirstNet and 9-1-1? We want to hear from you. Send me an email or find me or my colleagues at these events:
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5x5: The Public Safety Innovation Summit brought together nearly 500 thought leaders from public safety, government, industry, and academia to envision the future of public safety communications. This event was hosted by the FirstNet Authority and the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Public Safety Communications Research Division.
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On land, in the air, and on water—first responders need to be able to communicate wherever the mission takes them. The FirstNet Authority published a study about how public safety currently uses broadband for aviation and maritime operations and how it could be used in the future.
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During fiscal year 2023, the FirstNet Authority staff was busy engaging with public safety in the field, at conferences, and in our Boulder Lab. See what we accomplished this year.
Watch the video |
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John Hunt is a Senior Public Safety Advisor and the First Responder Network Authority 9-1-1 Subject Matter Expert. Learn more about John or email him with your questions. |
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*FirstNet Authority may provide hyperlinks for third-party, non-governmental websites in order to offer additional context and added value for our users. FirstNet Authority does not endorse any product or service and is not responsible, nor can it guarantee the validity or timeliness of the content on hyperlinks outside of the federal government. In addition, users may wish to review privacy notices on non-government sites since their information collection practices may differ from ours.
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