I went on a trip this week and forgot my cell phone on the dresser at home. One of several ironies: The trip was to the APCO Winter Summit, a communications technology conference.
I realized I was missing the appendage about 45 minutes into my trip, after my husband had dropped me off at the airport but before I had boarded the plane. Anxiety set in the second I reached for my phone to send him a text message that I was about to board and discovered it was missing. I frantically emptied my purse. Not there.
I was cut off. My boss couldn’t reach me. My husband couldn’t call me. I had no way to talk to the people I was leaving behind. My communications lifeline had been cut. And I felt alone. Really alone.
I’m not a 20-something, or even a 30-something. I wasn’t one of the early adopters of cell phone technology. In fact, my husband bought me my first cell phone “for emergencies” when my job location changed and my commute went from eight minutes to 45 minutes (or longer, depending on traffic). I told him I’d never use it. But then I realized that the long commute home after work was a great time to call my mom and catch up. I also discovered that cell phones come in really handy when I’m tryng to meet someone in an APCO Conference Exhibit Hall and don’t know what aisle they’re on.
Over the past 10 years, that cell phone has also let me get to know my teenage nieces who live in another state. They send me photos of their activities and texts from concerts to share the experience with me. I discovered that cell phones really do come in handy during emergencies, too. During Hurricane Katrina, a doctor I know in New Orleans was able to send text messages out when no voice communications would work to let people know where he was in the hospital, what conditions were like, what supplies they needed, and how they were treating patients.
When I landed in Orlando, I was still anxious. I thought about asking my husband to FedEx the phone to me, but it was a Sunday, and it wouldn’t have arrived until Tuesday, and I was leaving on Wednesday. Was it worth the $90 shipping cost? I decided against it.
There was a landline in a my room, and I guess I’d temporarily forgotten that I could use a credit card to make calls. I also remembered that as long as the hotel had Wi-Fi, I could access my personal and business e-mail applications from my computer or iPod Touch. I went online and changed my Facebook status to alert my business associates, friends and family that I had forgotten my cell phone. The colleague I was supposed to meet for breakfast on Tuesday morning saw my status and knew that he wouldn’t be able to confirm by phone, so he e-mailed me. My niece saw that I was active on Facebook and used the chat function to touch base. I passed along the cell phone number of a colleague with me at the conference to the office and my husband so they could reach me in a true emergency if necessary.
Guess what. I wasn’t so alone after all. I had other ways to communicate.
In public safety, we know that the ability to communicate—with the public, with police, fire and EMS personnel in the field, with the municipal, county, state and federal authorities who can assist with resources in a disaster—is critical. That’s what the APCO Winter Summit was all about: how technology helps us communicate today and how it will help us communicate in the future.
Several sessions focused on how the millenial generation is using technology and how public safety agencies can use the new communication methods (i.e., Web 2.0) to reach out to the public. Other sessions focused on specific technologies that are going to change the infrastructure of public safety communications, such as LTE and NG9-1-1.
One speaker said that with the proliferation of technology—computers, gaming systems, cell phones—“the introverts won.” He indicated that technology is cutting us off from contact with people, from communicating with each other. I beg to differ.
I think technology is strengthening our communications ties with others. Social and professional networking sites have allowed old friends and acquaintances to reconnect. Twitter and other message broadcasting sites don’t just allow for but encourage real-time information updates. Cell phones, e-mail, instant messaging and chat allow us to reach out to others when we’re thinking about them. When my niece appears to be distracted by something on her iPhone while we’re talking, she’s usually googling something about the topic of our conversation so she can more fully participate in the conversation. The technically inclined folks (i.e., “introverts) I know can reach out to others in a written form of conversation where they might never have picked up a phone. Technology is helping people meet a very real human need: communication with others.
What does this mean for public safety? It’s time to embrace technology and realize that it is allowing for a much stronger connection between the public and the PSAP. And forward-thinking public safety agencies are using these new tools in their recruitment efforts and to communicate with the public.
There is a problem, though. The changes in technology are being embraced and deployed more quickly in the public and commercial world than in public safety. My teenage nieces have expectations of 9-1-1 that we can’t meet. If one of them were in trouble in a noisy location or an intruder were to break into her home, she would try to send a text message to 9-1-1 and expect a response. In only a couple of jurisdictions and with a limited number of carriers would this be possible.
The Winter Summit was a place where folks came together to discuss how to meet a new generation’s expectations of public safety communications. But that discussion needs to be taking place in every comm center and every public safety agency in this country. Start the conversation in your center today.
Keri Losavio is the editor of Public Safety Communications and has been involved in writing and editing for public safety agencies since 1998. Contact her via e-mail at losaviok@apcointl.org.