Can connected police cars, dashcams, dash computers, body cams, and even holster sensors help society address the recent tragedies in the US? More importantly, can we create and fund real- time information based systems that can help law enforcement predict and prevent events like those which have happened in Texas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Georgia, New York and other states – so children of innocent citizens and children of innocent cops officers do not have to live without their mothers and fathers?
Our society needs public safety programs and professionals, and our leaders – elected officials and entrepreneurs, large corporations, and public and private partnership agencies – have to come together and support not just innovation, but implementation. , There will begiven the enormous, and almost endless, benefits we will can recognize now as a result of acting on this divide now.
Cradlepoint, a ten-year old company based in Idaho, has implemented over 1.4 million of its routers supporting software-defined wireless and wired WAN solutions. One of Cradlepoint’s specialties is reliable mobile connectivity for public safety and law enforcement. Cradlepoint designs, rolls out, and supports mission-critical applications that require 24/7 mobile connectivity for vehicles such as smart police cars.
One of the many industry solutions Cradlepoint, which is known for delivering extremely reliable mobile broadband, is public safety and law enforcement, designing, rolling out and supporting mission-critical applications that require 24x7 connectivity with mobility including smart police vehicles. The evolution of networks, the improvement in the economics of hardware (sensors, routers, gateways and more), the advancement of affordable and durable tablets and smart phones, and the investment in spectrum by the US Federal government and state and local agencies, now makes it not only possible for every municipality to “arm” their officers with information and analytics, and not just weapons – but practical and increasingly pervasive.
“With so many of a modern police department’s mission-critical duties tied to Internet connectivity, a reliable network is not a luxury, it's an absolute must,” said Ken Hosac, VP, Business Development, Cradlepoint. “It has been a great collaboration working with agencies to improve efficiency and public safety through cutting-edge technology.”
Cradlepoint works as part of an ecosystem, providing the connectivity using 4G LTE for its reliability, cost-effectiveness, ability to support real- time applications, enable remote management, including GPS location,n and real-time analytics, and more.
LTE also offers more flexibility than traditional networking, with capacity scale-up and scale-down which helps keep the economics for solutions reasonable – an important consideration given that the budgets of tax-payer funded agencies are always under scrutiny and pressure.
Cradlepoint has implemented solutions in a number of municipalities, including The City of Boise, Idaho. TAnd their architecture serves more than just police – it supports all first responders.
“Our overall goal is to create a mobile-office environment for everyone out in the field. We want our police officers, firefighters, paramedics, code enforcement officers, inspectors—anyone working in the field—to have all the information technology they need to work together to get the most out of our tax dollars. Cradlepoint’s wireless technology is helping us get there," said Garry Beaty, CIO, The City of Boise, ID.
Just last month, Cradlepoint announced a partnership with TASER and Axon to serve public safety agencies with an even greater level of commitment. Cradlepoint's wireless router platform will provide a secure means for officers to connect and offload video from TASER's Axon cameras in the field using Wi-Fi, commercial LTE, and/or FirstNet's Band 14 LTE. Cradlepoint's smart-WAN selection combined with GPS tagging will all allow managers and dispatchers to pinpoint officer location for the highest reliability solution.
Thousands of law enforcement agencies to have the Axon platform in place, which makes integration of software and hardware components easier and more secure. The platform integrates smart devices (body cameras and in-car video cameras), and a “Digital Evidence Management System” (DEMS) that orchestrates across multiple media points using open standards that play well with all file formats and media players.
“In addition to helping prevent crimes and ensure proper police officer protocols are being followed, the data captured is also priceless in the courtroom,” Hosac said. “From capture to courtroom, law enforcement is now able to securely share and track digital evidence, including digital verification and audit logs, so we’re also contributing to ensuring justice is served, building confidence in our legal system and keeping criminals off the streets.”
“In an emergency, seconds and minutes definitely count,” said Chris Dozier, director of Pike County emergency 911 dispatch, another client of Cradlepoint. The county’s IT team sought remote cloud management capabilities that would allow them to streamline processes and conserve vital public funds.
The county and city partnered to bring digital solutions to their law enforcement officers, and chose Cradlepoint’s routers with Enterprise Cloud Manager for connectivity and security. For the safety of their officers, they also deployed active GPS enabling real-time tracking, built into the broadband device, an innovation which meant the officers could work with one device instead of two.
The US Federal Government continues to build out FirstNet in support of broader initiatives to ensure every town, city, county and state across the country are safe.
Created under the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) is an independent authority within the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Their purpose is to establish, operate, and maintain an interoperable public safety broadband network. To fulfill these objectives, Congress allotted $7 billion and 20 MHz of valuable radio spectrum to build the network.
“Solving for these complex problems to help us stop the violence, to make citizens and law enforcement accountable for obeying the law, and to help prevent tragedies in the future is no small task,” Hosac said. “The Cradlepoint team is honored to contribute in our own way, working with our very dedicated, passionate customers, is driven by how we want to live in our communities knowing that we all wish for the same peaceful and safe lives. This includes all Americans, and really every human being and, every family on the planet. Yes, we work in IoT but our hearts are with the human beings whose lives can be continually improved and protected.”
Edited by
Ken Briodagh
