The First Responder Network Authority’s (FirstNet Authority) Public Safety Advocacy team traveled recently to Traverse City, MI, to participate in and present to more than 230 attendees at the 2019 Michigan Statewide Interoperable Communications Training Conference. The conference gave both the FirstNet Authority and the State of Michigan an opportunity to work to improve communications, interoperability, and information sharing among public safety agencies in and around the State.

The conference also helped the FirstNet Authority further understand public safety’s technology and capability priorities as we plan for the longer-term growth and evolution of the FirstNet Network in a manner that provides a differentiated experience for public safety. The FirstNet Authority will use public safety’s feedback to build a Roadmap to articulate the highest-priority needs for public safety for the Network, which will inform future investment and enhancement decisions.

During the conference, participants asked questions about the development of the Roadmap, and our team looked to gather feedback from them about the FirstNet Experience. Participants provided functional and constructive feedback about public safety apps, mission-critical push-to-talk, datacasting, international interoperability, and amateur radio interoperability. 

At the mission-critical video session, FirstNet Authority representatives walked the audience through the process of gathering data around what public safety most needs in mission-critical video capability on the FirstNet Network. The audience brought to light various uses of video in their various public safety roles, and discussed what it means to be “mission critical."

Thank you to the State of Michigan for hosting the conference and to the audience who participated and provided valuable feedback to the FirstNet Authority.