Staying on the Accelerator in 2021

When I first sat down to write this, it was December and I was thinking about predictions for the year ahead. I drew on a collective sense of relief as a universally challenging year came to a close.

The U.S. had begun rolling out COVID-19 vaccinations. For the first time in a while, many of us had hope for a return to some semblance of normalcy. No doubt, the public safety community shared that hope, too. This part remains true—hope is still there.

But in many ways, 2021’s relentless pace continues the journey of challenges that defined 2020, exacerbating the exhaustion already felt across our public safety and first responder communities. The terrifying attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6—and the fallout that’s still emerging—underscored the role communications plays in helping first responders react, even in the most challenging of situations.

That day we saw law enforcement continuously access the FirstNet network to do what they do best, even as commercial carrier networks struggled under the congestion. We also saw officers who acted as heroes, such as Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman, who led a mob of rioters away from the Senate chambers. These are the stories of hope that will lead us forward from these dark times.

And make no mistake, these dark times are, in part, a resulting outcome and societal symptom of the pandemic’s deceptive trauma. These hidden wounds will likely continue to emerge, possibly for years or generations to come. We must work together to surmount the pandemic and heal—as a nation, as communities and as individuals.

Getting to a Post-Pandemic Environment

The pandemic will likely extend for several more months as vaccine distribution slowly rolls out and we get to herd immunity. A nationwide cadre of exhausted first responders will keep working long hours with little reprieve and continued challenges—and continued need for community support.

What will it mean to transition to a post-vaccine environment? It’s a safe bet public safety will face more transformation on the fly as people absorb the impact and move toward a “new normal” of some kind. No one knows exactly what that will look like, but a transition to post-COVID road traffic, policing and health care will all be unfolding under new political leadership. If we’ve learned anything in 2020’s pandemic, social unrest and political strife, it’s that public safety will need to transform, including in how we police, provide care and respond to developments with flexibility.

One of the biggest lessons we learned in 2020 was our preference, as humans, for routines and patterns and familiarity. The ease of complacency means change usually didn’t happen fast—until it did. In 2020, the world changed on a dime. In 2021, it’s likely we’ll see dramatic change as well. Flexibility will be a crucial North Star guiding a global search for new patterns, routines and tools, helping us all adapt, modernize and challenge ourselves to do better.

In public safety, that means taking a hard look at where we are today but also critically considering where we’re headed tomorrow and whether we’re prepared. If, as a first responder, you haven’t yet adopted or maximized telemedicine capabilities, how can you start? As a law enforcement division, how can you strengthen your team’s capabilities in de-escalation? How can remote work be maximized in public safety, and how can those personnel be most efficient even when not physically onsite?

Technology as the bridge

In January 2021, FirstNet announced the rollout of four new mission-driven solutions exclusively available to subscribers: FirstNet MegaRange, Z-Axis, FirstNet Compact Rapid Deployables and Land-Mobile-Radio (LMR) interoperability for FirstNet Push-to-Talk. The new capabilities are based on what first responders told us they need, and in delivering that innovation into their hands, I hope it’s clear how seriously we take the public safety mission and our commitment to augmenting that mission however we can.

We can expect to see more of this evolution: Public safety departments, medical personnel and first responders exploring technologies that act as force multipliers. Robotics, unmanned systems and artificial intelligence will play a major role in optimizing patient treatment, in de-escalation training in law enforcement, in making life-saving decisions in public safety, and in providing game-changing situational awareness in emergency and disaster response. Ubiquitous 5G will enable much of this.

In 2021, we have to keep the foot on the gas pedal of all that Innovation to ensure public safety personnel are equipped with the modernized capabilities that save lives and resolve significant gaps. We’ll forge ahead in 2021, leaning in and building out the future that’s now more visible than ever.