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During a missing person search last fall in a remote part of the western Black Hills in South Dakota, the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office had no cell-phone service. Within hours of calling FirstNet, Captain Tony Harrison said that the AT&T-FirstNet team set up a mobile cell tower to allow deputies to communicate with dispatch and locate the missing person.
Prairies, farmland, ranches, mountains, glacial lakes, and tribal lands cover South Dakota’s 77,000-plus square miles. This diverse geography can make communications and connections challenging for first responders in South Dakota. Events like the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and national monuments like Mount Rushmore attract hundreds of thousands of visitors to the state each year, providing additional challenges for the state’s first responders.
The Davidson County Sheriff’s Office in South Dakota is exploring the benefits that FirstNet can bring to the rural area, including priority and preemption and cost savings.
After experiencing the difference in coverage and capacity offered by FirstNet, the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office became one of the largest FirstNet subscribers in South Dakota.
First responders in Pennington County, South Dakota, operate in a remote county with unique terrain. With FirstNet bringing new tower infrastructure, deployables, and a reliable network connection, deputies with the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office are able to move data and information quickly and securely.
Tracey Murdock is a senior public safety advisor for the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet Authority), serving local public safety stakeholders. Her mission is to listen, inform, and advocate for first responder communication requirements on the only nationwide broadband network designed for public safety.