Dialogue on prioritization, preemption, other meaningful response operations needed to make FirstNet goals a reality

What Smith emphasizes during the podcasts—and has throughout this project—is that this scenario should be viewed only as part of a much more comprehensive public-safety dialogue about how the FirstNet system will be used by responders in real-world situations. I agree wholeheartedly and would like to extend an invitation to others that might be willing to tackle other potential scenarios and/or provide other perspectives from the viewpoint of other response agencies.

To that end, I was encouraged that the Public Safety Advisory Committee (PSAC) that works with FirstNet began its formal dialogue on the priority/preemption issues during its meeting this week.

“I think that they did a good foundational presentation, educating people who aren’t so familiar with some of the issues,” PSAC Chairman Harlin McEwen said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications. “The intention was to try to kick off an ongoing larger discussion with the full PSAC to get their thoughts and advice, so we can get their thoughts over the next few months.”

Indeed, it’s a critical dialogue that appears to be getting started in earnest. That’s good news, because a better understanding of public-safety operational needs should help FirstNet’s technical staff incorporate the necessary hardware and software solutions in the final RFP that could be released as early as this time next year.