The Shade of the Tree That’s Planted vs. the Fruit of the Poison Tree

Why Public Safety Must Stand Firm Behind FirstNet’s Credibility in the Face of Commercial Carrier Interference

By John Paul Jones, Executive Director PSBTA, Public Safety Broadband Technology Association

Why Public Safety’s Only Credible Network Must Not Be Sacrificed to Commercial Interests

In public safety, credibility is currency. We don’t buy it. We don’t borrow it. And no one hands it to us. We earn it – on the street, at 3 a.m., when the radios crackle and smoke banks down to the floor; when law enforcement steps into harm’s way to apprehend armed intruders in the communities they’ve sworn to protect; when EMS races toward a non-breathing infant with no margin for error.

That same hard-earned credibility is exactly what FirstNet was built on. A network born from the ashes of  9/11, shaped by firefighters, medics, police officers, and emergency managers who knew personally what failure looks like when communications collapse in moments of consequence.

And now, that credibility is under attack – not because FirstNet is broken, but because it works. Because it delivers. Because it puts public safety first, not profit margins.

Commercial carriers like Verizon and T-Mobile now want a piece of the pie. Why, because it’s a big market and they are losing. But they want the benefits of the shade without ever planting the tree. They want the mantle of public-safety trust without carrying the burden of public-safety responsibility. And that is where public safety needs to hit pause and ask a simple but critical question:

Who should be entrusted with public safety communications when lives – not customers – are on the line?

Public Safety values the shade of a real, living tree… and will not be handed the fruit of a poison tree.

The Tree That’s Planted: FirstNet Was Built for Us, By Us

FirstNet didn’t show up because a carrier wanted to expand market share. It showed up because public safety demanded it. Because first responders were tired of being told that “network congestion is expected” while lives were hanging in the balance.

Here’s what makes the FirstNet tree real and rooted:

• Congress created it for public safety, not for the commercial marketplace.
• The FirstNet Authority- through the Public Safety Board of Directors holds enforceable oversight, ensuring that promises made must be promises kept.
• Dedicated Band 14 spectrum means priority and preemption no matter the disaster, no matter the crowd, no matter the planned event, etc.
• A reinvestment model that pours revenue back into public safety grade improvements, not shareholder dividends.
• Public safety governance, giving fire, EMS, law enforcement and emergency management leaders a direct voice in shaping upgrades, coverage builds, and future capabilities.

This is a tree that’s been planted, watered, and grown in full daylight – accountable, visible, and aligned with the mission we serve.

The Fruit of the Poison Tree: Commercial Carriers Want the Label Without the Labor

Verizon and T-Mobile have one objective: reclaim the optics they lost when they refused to step up after 9/11. They had a chance to build what FirstNet eventually became, and they passed.

Now, they want back in the room. But not to support the mission. To dilute it.

We know how this game works:

• Rebranding “priority” offerings as “public safety solutions.”
• Lobbying Congress to dismantle public safety oversight, because they want to be inserted into the game and oversight limits profit.
• Claiming rural expansion while avoiding the hardest builds.
• Offering so called “virtual public safety cores” that are not separate, not hardened, and not subject to federal accountability.
• Creating pseudo marketing terms that have no real substance.
• Selling agencies on short-term deals while undermining the national long-term architecture.

This is the fruit of the poison tree – polished, appealing, marketed with a smile… but grown on the roots of self-interest.

And the danger?
Once public safety buys into poisoned fruit, the entire ecosystem becomes compromised.

Credibility Is a Dangerous Thing to Play Politics With

Public safety has learned, over generations of hard lessons, that consistency and accountability matter far more than promises. Communications must work. Data must flow. Dispatch must reach the field. And networks must hold strong even when the rest of the world is crumbling.

FirstNet has earned credibility with:

• Outages measured in minutes, not hours or days
• Consistent performance during wildland fires, hurricanes, and mass-casualty events
• Rapid deployables, SatCOLTs, and IoT based coverage assets
• Transparent reporting
• Public-safety-driven reinvestment in coverage, hardening and innovation
• Standards that don’t move with Wall Street

Meanwhile, the commercial carriers, T-Mobile and Verizon have earned a different reputation:
Over-promise, under-deliver, charge more tomorrow.

We’re not talking about bad companies. We’re talking about companies with a different mission. Their duty is to profit. Ours is to protect.

If you are a commercial carrier, I guess there is no shame in that difference, but there is danger in ignoring it.

Public Safety’s Role: Protect the Shade for the Next Generation

Public Safety knows better than anyone: if you cut down a good tree because someone waves cash at you, you don’t just lose shade – you lose stability, roots, and future shelter.

And that’s what’s at stake.

If FirstNet is weakened – if its authority is diluted, if Band 14 becomes a bargaining chip, if public safety governance is replaced by corporate marketing – then we lose the only nationwide communication system that was created for our mission instead of the wallets of commercial interests.

Reauthorization isn’t just a policy checkbox.
It’s a generational responsibility.

The next rookie firefighter, the next paramedic on their first code, the next battalion chief commanding a 5-alarm fire – the next police officer that stands between the community and chaos, they all deserve a network that exists for one reason: them.

In the End, It’s Simple

The FirstNet Authority Public Safety Board of Directors needs the shade of the tree that’s planted – rooted in mission, grown with purpose, and tended by those who serve.

Commercial carriers are offering fruit that looks good on the surface but carries the toxins of misaligned incentives and short-term thinking.

Public Safety must see the difference. Speak the difference. And defend the right to govern what they have created, nurtured and sown.

Because once the tree is gone, there is no getting it back.

REMEMBER:

You don’t cut down the tree that protects you.
You don’t eat fruit from a poisoned tree.
And you never gamble with public safety communications.

John Paul Jones, Fire Chief-Emeritus and Executive Director of the Public Safety Broadband Technology Association, possesses over 34 years of distinguished leadership in fire service operations and communications. His pioneering work in regional homeland security coordination and the adoption of mobile-data communications has been instrumental in advancing interdisciplinary-inclusive-interoperability. Throughout his career, he has remained a dedicated advocate for technology innovation, operational excellence, and the mission readiness of the nation’s first responders.