On July 13, APCO staff met with Arpan Sura, senior counsel to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and the FCC’s Chief AI Officer, to discuss the need for public safety professionals to have access to the spectrum resources and advanced communications technologies they need to protect lives and keep communities safe. The convergence of spectrum policy, Next Generation 9-1-1, mission-critical broadband, artificial intelligence and emerging technologies will define how first responders communicate for decades to come. APCO emphasized the need to modernize the technical requirements for the 4.9 GHz band to support 5G deployments and to update the rules on signal boosters to ensure interference-free operations for public safety agencies. APCO also expressed support for off-network, device-to-device “sidelink” 5G communications technology, which can help ensure public safety communications can continue uninterrupted even when traditional networks are unavailable. APCO also highlighted the risk to public safety of the proliferation of direct-to-ECC alarm notifications and how standards and best practices for verifying alarm notifications can reduce this risk.
