Many of you know the name Tom Steele, but I suspect most of you have never heard of Tom Steele. Even if you don't know the name, it's safe to say that probably everyone of us has been impacted by Tom in some manner. For over fifty years, Tom make significant contributions to the public safety technology community. If you've never heard of him, that's because Tom wanted it that way. For Tom, it was never about him, it was about everyone else.
Tom was a visionary and leader ... words that are often attributed to people today in too trite a manner. For Tom, those descriptive words are understatements. He was a champion of developing standards for public safety technologies back when the word "standards" wasn't on the lips of thought leaders or the subject of discussion between solution providers and the public safety community.
Tom was preaching the gospel of interoperability, back when public safety agencies didn't want to or didn't feel that they needed to talk to each other.
Tom was on the inclusivity soapbox back when police departments didn't even want to share information with other police agencies, much less with the fire/EMS or transportation agencies. Tom's personal belief, that "it's not about me, it's about our public safety employees" extended to "it's not just about your agency, it's about all the other agencies out there as well."
Tom initiated, led, and socialized the testing and initial use of many publci safety technologies, years before those technologies became commonplace in our community. He was extremely visionary, looking ten, fifteen, twenty years down the road and integrating that vision into the technology of the day. He was planning on using mobile platforms for sending files, maps, pictures, video ... back when cellular phones and devices did only one thing - make phone calls. Much of the technology you use today, from computer aided dispatch systems to the computers and cameras in the police cars, has Tom's fingerprints on it it somewhere.
Tom always focused on making people smile and making people feel better. It's amazing how he had an extra "sense" about him to send an email or make a phone call of encouragement, just when it was needed most.
Tom strongly believed in sharing the wealth of knowledge and vision to anyone and everyone who would listen. He mentored hundreds and educated tens of thousands. I was lucky to be one of those people. I still remember the first time I met him. Even at that very first meeting, he left me with three very important messages:
(1) Everything you ever do with technology should always be focused first on bringing your police officers home at the end of the day. There is no higher mission than the safety of our officers.
(2) Don't think about your needs of today ... it's already too late to address those needs. Always think at least five years down the road ... if you plan today to meet your needs five years from now, tomorrow will be easier.
(3) Open your eyes. There is more to the public safety community than police, fire, and EMS. There is transportation, there are the utility companies, there are many other agencies and organizations out there that provide mission critical services during secondary response. That makes them part of "public safety" as well.
We lost Tom Steele last Saturday, November 12. Those of us who knew him now feel that gaping hole that he left behind. We miss him personally, his smile, his laughter, his jokes, his encouragement, his mentoring, and his leadership. Those who never got to know him will miss the opportunity to do so. But while Tom is no longer with us physically, he lives on, in all the different technologies, standards, and programs that he helped develop. And he will live on for quite along time, because his efforts were focused on the future. Some of his work has not yet made it to our communities, but it will - and that will be his legacy.
Legacy - if dictionaries published pictures with each definition, legacy might very well have his picture. While Tom will never go back home to his family, hundreds of thousands of police officers and fire fighters will go home to their families at the end of each shift because of this man's legacy. Well done, Tom, well done.