Ensuring the ‘safe’ in public safety: How technology is changing incident response
March to mid-May is busy season for Shawnee County Fire District #4, located in northeastern Kansas. Our agency is made up of 20 to 30 volunteers who give their time…
Tech Talk
Filling the PSAP Gap with AI-Enabled ViizViital
240 million—that’s approximately how many calls are made to 9-1-1 in the U.S. each year*, and the total keeps growing.
Given that there are only 5,748 primary and secondary Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) nationwide, that’s a lot of calls for the human operators to handle. Fortunately, many calls to PSAPs’ non-emergency 10-digit phone numbers can be handled by artificial intelligence-driven telephone answering systems.
Public Safety Broadband Technology Association and APCO Int’l Joint Communications Event
PRESS RELEASE Las Vegas, NV – The Public Safety Broadband Technology Association (PSBTA) and Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials, Intl. (APCO) held a joint communications event March 18-19, 2025, in…
FirstNet Webinar Spotlights the Power of AI for Helping Public Safety
Artificial intelligence is a behemoth that’s moving forward and going to have an impact on every element of society,” replied Devine. “Our focus is to make sure public safety gets to participate in those gains. AI is a broad field focused on creating systems that mimic human intelligence, including reasoning, decision-making, problem-solving, and interpreting information. We’re really focused on making sure that, as AI migrates forward, that public safety benefits from it.
Doing Right by Our Nation’s First Responders
by Chuck Dowd For the past four years, there has been an issue of critical importance for our nation’s First Responders in front of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). At stake…
Tech This Out: Flying COWs deployed to wildfire areas
AUSTIN, Texas — As wildfires ravaged Pacific Palisades and other parts of Southern California, a critical breakdown in communication systems left first responders scrambling and residents desperate to connect with loved…
AI, 5G, and FirstNet Reauthorization Lead Experts’ Forecasts for 2025
By James Careless The application of artificial intelligence (AI) to first responder communications, advances in 5G, and the reauthorization of FirstNet are the big trends that the experts see dominating…
FirstNet Deploys Communication Assets to Southern California Wildfire Areas
As a public safety partner, the FirstNet team – in collaboration with local AT&T teams and AT&T Network Disaster Recovery – have been on the ground since day one to…
4.9 GHz Incumbents: Act Now to Save Your FCC Licenses!
By James Careless Warning! If your agency is using the 4.9 GHz band (4940–4990 MHz) for public safety communications under an FCC “PA” radio service code authorization, you need to…
Vision 2024 Was Time Well Spent
By James Careless Call it a success! The 2024 Vision FirstNet Users Summit (Vision 2024) held by the Public Safety Broadband Technology Association (PSBTA) was a hit with attendees, FirstNet…
Public Safety Spectrum Alliance commends the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on 4.9 GHz decision
NEWS / PRESS RELEASE LAS VEGAS, Nev.—The Public Safety Spectrum Alliance (PSSA), a coalition of the Public Safety Broadband Technology Association (PSBTA), commends the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on its…
Emergent Signs On As Vision 2024 Special Venue Sponsor
By James Careless Emergent, a maker of first responder-centric incident command, fleet management, and inspection software, has signed on as a Special Venue Sponsor at the 2024 Vision FirstNet Users…
Vision 2024 Offers Three Session Tracks to FirstNet Users
By James Careless Mindful that not all FirstNet users are the same, the 2024 Vision FirstNet Users Summit (Vision 2024) will be offering three distinct session tracks this year: Mission…
Spoiler Alert! What’s Coming Up at Vision 2024
By James Careless The 2024 Vision FirstNet Users Summit — aka Vision 2024 — takes place at the new Sahara Hotel/Conference Center in Las Vegas October 7-10, 2024. This is…
You can’t argue with facts: Recent 4.9 GHz Webinar with SWICs
NEWS / PRESS RELEASE Las Vegas, Nevada – The Public Safety Broadband Technology Association (PSBTA) and the Public Safety Spectrum Alliance (PSSA) recently hosted a webinar for all Statewide Interoperability…