The City of St. Augustine is connecting first responders to FirstNet®, Built with AT&T – the only network built with and for America’s first responders and the extended public safety community. With this tech advancement, the city can equip its first responders with new capabilities and reliable access to critical information while in the field, allowing them to better serve those who live, work and visit St. Augustine.
FirstNet is designed to improve interoperable communications across public safety entities nationwide, allowing first responders to communicate with one another easily and quickly during everyday situations, big events and emergencies.
St. Augustine is a college town, tourist destination, and coastal city often affected by hurricane season, presenting challenges to emergency communication. In order to stay connected during everyday crises and emergencies, St. Augustine PD is using FirstNet on phones and to provide connection for mobile command units, parking enforcement and Mobile Data Terminals. And St. Augustine’s fire department and public works will also benefit from the reliability of FirstNet connectivity.
“Because we are on the coast and support both students and tourists, St. Augustine faces unique challenges that can keep local first responders busy,” said Dee Brown, public information officer for St. Augustine PD. “It is crucial that we have a network that can handle that volume while ensuring our communications has priority in any situation. Before joining FirstNet, we often faced issues with dropped calls and a lack of coverage. FirstNet has allowed us to communicate with our department efficiently and effectively.”
St. Augustine PD joined FirstNet to provide its first responders unthrottled access to an entire public safety ecosystem of mission-ready tools and capabilities, including:
- The only nationwide communications platform that allows first responders to coordinate emergency responses efficiently and effectively across agencies and jurisdictions.
- Always-on priority and preemption to give St. Augustine reliable access to the connection first responders need – and protecting from network congestion.
- A separate, dedicated and highly secure network core purpose-built for public safety’s sensitive communications.
- Innovative tools – like public safety-centric applications, mission-critical solutions and connected devices – to give St. Augustine more actionable information for heightened situational awareness.
- A dedicated fleet of 100+ deployable network assets public safety agencies can call upon for additional connectivity at no extra charge during remote situations, planned events or urgent crises—a unique benefit to the industry.
- Access to holistic public safety health and wellness tools and resources, like ROG the Dog, that go beyond network connectivity—all powered by the FirstNet Health & Wellness Coalition, which represents more than 1.3 million first responders.
“We’re honored that the City of St. Augustine chose FirstNet to elevate its communications capabilities,” said AT&T state president Joe York. “It’s our mission to give first responders the cutting-edge tools they need to safely and effectively achieve their mission. FirstNet will help first responders in St. Augustine and across the country perform at the highest levels to keep themselves and those they serve out of harm’s way.”
“FirstNet, Built with AT&T, is the exclusive communications platform, built with and for public safety, inspired by public safety. There is no substitution for this purpose-built network,” said Lisa Casias, Acting CEO at the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet Authority). “We look forward to supporting St. Augustine and all of Florida’s public safety community with FirstNet, making sure it delivers what they need, when they need it.”
To learn more about the City of St. Augustine’s adoption of FirstNet, you can read more on the FirstNet Authority’s blog here, and watch a video about how St. Augustine is using FirstNet here. For an in-depth discussion, tune into the FirstNet Authority’s episode on the podcast “Public Safety First” podcast, featuring Officer Dee Brown, available on SoundCloud here.
To learn more about FirstNet, go to FirstNet.com.
