What FirstNet can learn from statewide LMR systems

Regardless how these questions are answered, it is important that FirstNet responds truthfully from the very outset—based on cold, hard facts—to engender trust from stakeholders, which will be crucial in convincing agencies to take the leap, Stoddard said.

“Some of these local agencies don’t trust the state authorities, for a variety of reasons, so it’s unlikely that they’re going to trust FirstNet, at least in the beginning,” he said. “So, FirstNet will have to be careful about the messages it sends, especially early messages, because they will remember them. It doesn’t matter if it was a casual remark or a firm stance—they don’t forget those early messages.

“And if they catch you in a lie, they’ll never again believe anything you say.”

David Behen, CIO for the state of Michigan, echoed this sentiment. Behen has the unique perspective of one who was among those that had to be convinced to join the statewide radio system when he was CIO of Washtenaw County, which has Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan in its environs.

“FirstNet needs to do what it says it’s going to do—that’s the easiest way of building credibility,” Behen said. “And they can’t change plans as they go along. If they do, they will run the risk of creating a ‘bait-and-switch’ perception among those they’re trying to convince.”

It’s also crucial that FirstNet paints a realistic picture, and avoids extolling pie-in-the sky scenarios that might not be within the grasp of a particular agency or agencies.

While there is no question that this network will provide a laundry list of new capabilities—from video to biometrics monitoring to enhanced field reporting—that will make first responders more effective and keep them safer, not every agency will be able to fully take advantage of them, due to funding, geographic, governance and other limitations. That is the message from Steve Devine, interoperability program manager for the Missouri Department of Public Safety, who was the technical lead for the buildout of the state’s Project 25 radio system.

“If this is a data solution—and it is—then FirstNet needs to understand that half of the agencies right now don’t have any data at all,” Devine said. “Those agencies aren’t going to jump on this right away. Data right now is more of an urban play than a rural play, so FirstNet will need to guard against selling the urban model to rural people.”

Steve Williams, chief technology officer for the Florida Highway Patrol, concurred.

“You have to be upfront with them, especially about coverage and capacity,” Williams said.

According to Miller, the key takeaway from his experience with the Michigan statewide system is that one size doesn’t fit all—a lesson that FirstNet also should heed.

“The more flexibility that FirstNet can provide, the better off they will be,” Miller said. “Also, unless they’re not concerned about how fast the network grows, they will need to leverage what’s already in place as much as possible.”

Devine further suggested that FirstNet take a grassroots approach to its outreach.

“They have to evangelize, and you can’t do that with webinars, PowerPoint presentations and handouts,” Devine said. “[Face-to-face] demonstrations are the key. …  It’s important that the demos are consistent with what the agency is going to experience—you don’t want to get their hopes up.

“FirstNet needs to show its network will work better than what these agencies already have. The proof is in the pudding. You can talk about this all day long, but people aren’t going to be convinced until they have [the gear] in their hands.”

Though FirstNet established the Public Safety Advisory Council, which consists of representatives from various first responder agencies, Behen thinks that FirstNet missed an opportunity by not creating a similar group consisting of state CIOs. He added that it’s not too late to do so, and that the benefit would be two-fold.

“First, we’ve all gone through big projects and we know where the pitfalls are, so our input would be valuable,” Behen said. “And, if FirstNet asks for our input on how to put this network together, the state CIOs would jump on board. It will be easier for FirstNet, if it has 50 states evangelizing with them.”

Glenn Bischoff is the former editor-in-chief of IWCE’s Urgent Communications.