Technology has always played an essential role in policing, public safety and emergency services. Whether it be the police radio (police officers around the world have ranked their radios as their most essential survival tool, over their guns) or the bomb detector, technology is critical to public safety and disaster preparedness. Governments and policymakers need to play their part in allowing for advancements in public safety technology to be fully leveraged.

At the 15th annual Critical Communications World Congress in Paris, technology vendors, security experts and first responders from around the world gathered to discuss current trends and challenges in public safety technology, and to showcase new innovations. The overriding theme of the conference was the need for governments and telecoms regulators to assign spectrum for public safety LTE networks. As next generation LTE networks come online and become integrated with existing radio networks, first responders have the opportunity to tap into high-speed mobile internet services for a wide variety of mission-critical applications.