5G will transform the front line of public safety. Tami Erwin, CEO of Verizon Business, commented that reliability and interoperability are “critical when lives are on the line.” With 5G innovation, public safety agencies will be able to be more agile in supporting both first responders and the communities they serve.
With this enhanced technology, agencies will be able to improve their access to data. Jennifer Chronis, Senior Vice President, Public Sector Verizon, commented that, with 5G, “precise data can be received from where an incident has occurred. This helps first responders prioritize care when arriving at the scene.” Innovators are creating ways to capitalize on these instances to bring platforms that provide comprehensive end-to-end technologies that will help first responders. One benefit to these platforms is the use of “5G’s massive bandwidth with super-fast speeds and low latency that will allow first responders to get data intensive information quickly in the field. Access to this information provides the needed critical situational awareness,” said Patty Roze, Vice President, Public Sector Verizon.
5G will improve the entire public safety engagement cycle from pre-incident, in-bound 911, dispatch, treatment, and recovery with tools, such as autonomous drones for real-time situational awareness and VR training for EMTs. The 5G network is creating these opportunities and enabling real-time applications with low latency. To picture the speed at which 5G networks are able to operate at, Mike Haberman, Vice President, Technology Development & Planning at Verizon, commented that “if LTE is a two-lane highway, millimeter wave (mmWave) 5G is a 34-lane highway.”
Agencies will be able to use 5G capabilities to identify the best ways to help public safety and emergency response, such as moving to the edge and providing analytics at the scene of an incident. With 5G’s low latency, there will be less delay in receiving information as the incident is occurring, whether it’s a wildfire, hurricane, or other emergency situation. 5G’s interoperability will “allow first responders to get data quickly and allow for better planning and better response to any kind of an incident,” said Dr. Jerry Hauer, Former Commissioner, NY State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services.
In the field of public safety, 5G will rapidly transform capabilities and improve agencies’ abilities to respond to emergencies and public health crises. As Vickie Lonker, Vice President, Public Sector Solutions at Verizon, noted, in addition to these networks enabling quick access to information for first responders to improve situational awareness, 5G will facilitate connected health for more value-based care. While these are major steps forward, these steps are just the beginning of a period of rapid transformation for first responders and public safety.
