Brazos County Sheriff Office becomes first public-safety agency in Texas to subscribe to FirstNet

Given the budgetary and operational preparations made by Brazos County, the expense associated with migrating the sheriff’s office to FirstNet was “minimal,” Kirk said. Now, the goal is spread the word about FirstNet, “show them what we’ve been doing and encourage them to now start the planning process, so we can all be operational,” he said.

However, Kirk acknowledged that many surrounding public-safety agencies may not be able to make a full data transition to FirstNet quickly, for budgetary and/or operational reasons. However, first-responder entities should consider taking steps to evaluate the FirstNet offering and position themselves to adopt the broadband service when the time is right, he said.

“We’ve been operational for two years, so we’ve proven the concept,” Kirk said. “Now that we have a carrier, people need to very seriously start planning for this. We’ve been working on this project for about four years—it wasn’t a quick buildout, obviously.

“People need to start their budgeting processes and planning processes, so that they can position themselves to join the network. As it’s built out to its full capabilities, they will be ready at that time to take advantage of it.”

Brazos County conducted a press conference about its FirstNet subscription on Thursday, but that was not the only FirstNet adoption news of the week. On Wednesday, the Kansas Highway Patrol became the first statewide public-safety agency to announce its subscription to FirstNet.

“We’re proud to be the state’s anchor tenant for this cutting-edge public safety broadband network,” Kansas Highway Patrol Col. Mark Bruce sad in a prepared statement. “FirstNet is truly transformational. We’re just beginning to unleash its potential, but we believe it’s a promising solution that will help us do our jobs better and faster—while staying safer.”

Kansas Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer echoed this sentiment.

“As the first agency in Kansas to adopt this critical new solution, the Kansas Highway Patrol will help lead the way for first responders across the state,” Colyer said in a prepared statement. “And by sharing their lessons learned, they can help fellow first responders modernize and enhance their life-saving capabilities. With FirstNet, Kansas residents can expect a level of service that is second to none.”