Priority and preemption allow first responders to remain connected to FirstNet, even in times of high network congestion, and the FirstNet Authority is continually testing these features to ensure their functionality. Public safety agencies in Canton and Stark County, Ohio and Derry, New Hampshire have experienced the difference priority and preemption make in every day operations and emergency incidents.

The FirstNet Authority’s Public Safety Advocacy team proactively reaches out to public safety to discuss FirstNet and elicit feedback and insight regarding their communication needs for public safety broadband and innovative technologies. In the Central region, the team includes two National Government Liaisons that represent 573 federally recognized tribes across the country and public safety advisors covering a geographically diverse region of 14 states.

This is the sixth entry in a blog series that will explore the six FirstNet Authority Roadmap domains. You can also learn about the Core, Coverage and Capacity, Situational Awareness, Voice Communications and Secure Information Exchange domains by downloading the full Roadmap at firstnet.gov/Roadmap.

The FirstNet Authority developed the Roadmap to guide FirstNet’s growth over the next five years with input from public safety, industry, government, and our network contractor, AT&T. The FirstNet Authority included the Secure Information Exchange domain as one of six technology domains in the FirstNet Authority Roadmap to further shape and improve the FirstNet user experience and promote the safe exchange of critical and sensitive information over FirstNet.

The FirstNet Authority’s Public Safety Advocacy team works hand-in-hand with public safety to make sure their needs are represented in the FirstNet network buildout and evolution. In the North region, six public safety advisors cover 16 states and bring a wealth of public safety expertise to their roles as advocates.