Hosted service providers will be able to offer a menu of solutions for PSAPs to choose from, ranging from call processing to GIS to workforce management. Such economies of scale will put richer functionality and resiliency within the reach of every PSAP.
Trend #2: Public Safety Broadband When Congress passed legislation to create the FirstNet (the First Responder Network Authority) just over two years ago, the idea of building a nationwide broadband network for fi rst responders seemed a massive undertaking. Now that 2013 is in the rear view mirror, some would say it’s still a lofty goal, even though progress has been made. The promise of FirstNet is a secure
and prioritized pipeline for public safety communications, meaning that the network is ready and available when needed for fi eld units to commu- nicate. An additional benefi t is the ability
to share real-time data. Here we’re not just talking about traditional voice com- munications—but video, text, photos, even sensor data. One example might be dashcam video for an early read on a scene. For example, the fi rst fi re en- gine at a fi re typically reports the ‘size- up,’ which is a verbal description of the scene. But someday it might be possible to
push out dashcam video of the scene to other fi rst responders en route, or to a mobile incident command center, or back to the emergency operations cen-
ter or PSAP. Having these visual cues will not only save resources, it will help everyone coordinate better. While public safety broadband is
billed primarily as an information shar- ing superhighway for fi rst responders, its impact will be felt in the PSAP as well. PSAPs are the hub of emergency communications, and with public safety broadband, they will become even more so.
Today, we’re seeing more PSAPs with
access to city surveillance and DoT cam- eras, but only for viewing. They’re not able to move or process video. FirstNet is going to enable public safety agencies to move and share video in real time— and not just video, but other relevant data as well. There are many sources of real-time
information that fl ow into city surveil- lance centers that could also benefi t PSAPs. Today, this information can be consolidated and correlated through an open software solution known as PSIM (Physical Security Information Man- agement). PSIM can combine any num- ber of systems into one user interface. Control room operators just see the big picture. City-wide video surveillance can be merged with public and private video management systems (VMSs) for
expanded security reach. Gunshot detection, License Plate Recognition (LPR), weather systems, emergency/mass notification, traffic systems, chemical/biological, radio- logical sensors, Hazmat alerts, weather alerts, telematics, GIS can also be inte- grated. GIS integration, for example, gives operators a map-based view of video cameras and other sensors for a better visual picture of unfolding events. The bottom line is the same PSIM that delivers this situational awareness to the city surveillance center can also de- liver situational awareness to the PSAP. How can this be accomplished? One way is to simply designate the PSAP as another user of the existing PSIM solu- tion used in the surveillance center. A second option is to leverage PSIM
to make additional information avail- able through the interface already used by dispatchers—CAD. (CAD is one of many systems that PSIM can integrate to.) This means that in the future, mul- tiple agencies might be able to share the same real-time video views while col- laborating on an incident. Similarly, through the power of broadband and PSIM integration, a 911 call could bring up video from the 911 caller’s location. This would allow the 911 dispatcher to not only hear what’s happening, but also see what’s happen- ing and be able to relay this information to fi rst responders, or better yet, push the video, images and other incident data directly to fi rst responders en route to the scene.
Trend #3: NextGen Quality Assurance There are few instances when quality service matters more than 911 emer- gency communications. To ensure high service standards, PSAPs routinely re- view voice calls (a process known as Quality Assurance or QA). Until now, QA focused on 911 calls. But as NG911 and public safety broadband come on- line, PSAPs will become the touchpoint for handling Text-to-911, video, and an increasing number of sensors and data. Telecommunicators will need to be
able to process new media formats and make decisions based on those inputs. In this complex environment, QA will
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