Each year, residents of San José, CA come together to celebrate Cinco de Mayo – a day commemorating Mexico’s victory over the Second French Empire at the Battle of Puebla in 1862 and celebrating culture and community—drawing large crowds for the annual festivities.
While many enjoyed food and mingling with friends and family, the City of San José’s first responders – spanning fire, law enforcement, emergency management, and transportation professionals – joined to ensure the celebrations were fun and safe.
To maintain communications and overall situational awareness that keeps people safe throughout the Cinco de Mayo weekend, first responders used FirstNet®, Built with AT&T – the only network built with and for America’s first responders – to communicate, coordinate, and respond as needed.
In the past, communication challenges hindered public safety’s response as incidents unfolded. That’s why the City of San José Police Department (SJPD) needed a reliable connection that allowed its officers to react quickly to any situation. The FirstNet Response Operations Group (ROG) was on the case. Working with the City, the ROG team was able to capitalize on existing City fiber and install a small cell near the incident command post. They staged a portable cell site (SatCOLT) from the dedicated FirstNet fleet to provide redundancy to ensure consistent coverage in an emergency.
“Communication capabilities and situational awareness are essential components of modern public safety efforts,” said Assistant Chief of Police Paul Joseph. “The FirstNet Radio Area Network (RAN) team worked collaboratively with multiple city departments to create an effective solution to support our efforts. The teams’ creativity and dedication to public safety provided a new and unique solution. The final iteration supplied the required bandwidth, system performance, and communications capabilities needed in the area.”
As celebrations and large gatherings took place throughout the city, the interoperability of FirstNet proved instrumental to achieving public safety’s goals for the holiday. At the command post, the Police Department was able to support the strategic and tactical decisions of commanders on site. It allowed officers to monitor for potential criminal activity and provide live updates to officers in the field – helping create a safer environment for the first responders as well as the individuals enjoying the weekend.
The City of San José became the first in the country to deploy FirstNet to all public safety personnel and emergency response staff in 2019. The forward-thinking move reflected San José’s leading spirit of innovation and its dedication to using advanced technologies to increase the safety and wellbeing of those that live, work and visit the city.
As public safety’s partner, FirstNet is the only wireless carrier that backs first responders with their own network built specifically with them and for them to be ready for every eventuality. That’s why we’ll continue to be by public safety’s side, providing innovative capabilities to strengthen first responders’ incident response. No matter the mission, FirstNet is here to build better connections and safer communities.
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