Empowering public safety volunteers

Eng. Markus Rauch, coordinator of the regional radio service of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano

“We have to bring new technology into the critical communications sector; we cannot train new users to work with old technology.”

How do different communications technologies support your organisation’s work?

There is a growing demand for public safety services in the province and this calls for our responses to be rapid and efficient, without errors. Each year we have around 60,000 ambulance deployments for example. Rescue teams need precise information and our communications must be safe and fast.

Our people have different communications needs. Ambulance paramedics in the field prefer to use smartphones with LTE connectivity to get the information they need. Sending patient monitoring data to the hospital from the ambulance helps to improve diagnostics and care. For this they need LTE.

On the other hand, firefighters depend on the reliable communications and robust terminals that are quick and easy to use on our TETRA network.

Also, while my organisation is responsible for civil protection duties and does not include police services, it is clear that police officers out on patrol would benefit from broadband technology for database queries such as vehicle registration checks. At the same time, they need secure public safety communications such as TETRA.

A hybrid network provides a good solution for all these diverse needs and our need is to further integrate LTE with the TETRA network. 5G is far into the future.

Rolling out TETRA to all our personnel enables effective collaboration between the different teams and also across the border. We need secure cross-border communication. This allows rescue and emergency teams to speed up complex operations outside and within South Tyrol. The rescue teams are in constant contact with their colleagues and headquarters in South Tyrol. That was not possible previously.

What challenges do you face when integrating users from the “digital native” generation into your organization?

The new generation of users likes to use new technology. They naturally want to have the latest technology available for their rescue work. If I give a TETRA terminal to my children and ask them to send a text message, they cannot do it, they know only how to use a smartphone. Our volunteers want critical communications on a smartphone, but smartphones cannot meet the needs of public safety users who work in tough environments.

We have to bring new technology into the critical communications sector; we cannot train new users to work with old technology. 

Take a look at the 15 most interesting observations from all the interviewees gathered into a printable document. Get the pdf and print out the quote that most inspires you -

The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Airbus.