FirstNet ‘public-safety entity’ definition should be broad, but prioritization policies must be clear

That means providing an operable and interoperable system that provides communications needed to support the safety of the general public in virtually all circumstances. That means having a system that is flexible and robust enough that after-action reports and hearings are not simply repeats of previous incidents, where many of the response failings are blamed on a lack of communications resources.

With this in mind, the broader interpretation of “public-safety entity” proposed by the FirstNet staff seems both appropriate and necessary. Yes, the focus of the FirstNet system should be to serve the communications needs of police, fire and EMS that will utilize the network on a daily basis, but that focus should not prohibit the ability for incident commanders and emergency operations centers to leverage information from utilities, hospitals, transportation authorities, government jurisdictions and other critical-infrastructure entities.

The point of FirstNet is to provide first responders with access to whatever communications assets that are needed for them to execute their mission to keep the public safe and to limit damage to property. Establishing a FirstNet system dedicated exclusively to police, fire and EMS communications is of limited value, if the most pressing public-safety need at a particular moment is to clear a power line (with help from a utility), evacuate an area (using transportation assets), or quarantine and care for carriers of a deadly virus (with health and government officials).

I don’t believe Congress will consider FirstNet a success, if the after-action report and hearings from the next big event reveal that police, fire and EMS were all able to communicate fabulously throughout the incident, but their response was ineffective because of the fact that they did not have robust, reliable communications with other key critical-infrastructure players involved in the response.

Similarly, there are even scenarios where Joe Citizen should be elevated to a high-priority level on the FirstNet system.

Imagine the case of a massive hostage situation at a school or bank building, in which Joe Citizen was able to hide in a closet, unnoticed by the perpetrators. If he is able to contact 911, there should be a way to move that call to the FirstNet system, where an incident commander can dedicate whatever bandwidth is necessary to ensure that the intelligence that Joe Citizen can provide—via text, photos or video, because he probably will not be comfortable speaking, for fear of being noticed—is not disrupted.

In such a situation, the last thing you want is for Joe Citizen’s connection to 911 to be lost or compromised, because his commercial carrier’s network in that particular cell sector is being overwhelmed by onlookers posting pictures and videos from the scene to social-media sites—and that’s a very likely scenario. Moving such a 911 call to the FirstNet 700 MHz network (and prioritizing it) would seem both appropriate and advisable.

(Yes, I realize that this implies that Band 14 700 MHz access would need to be in all devices, but that's another column for another time.)