April marked an opportunity to celebrate our unseen heroes during National Public Safety Telecommunications Week. Call takers are our community’s first point of contact in an emergency and their training, knowledge, and poise under pressure are critical in a time of crisis. The ability for telecommunications professionals to communicate information quickly, clearly, and accurately can be a decisive factor in the outcome of an emergency.
The Halton Regional Police Service has been a leader in telecommunications and in 2017 announced a partnership with Motorola Solutions to commission Canada’s first public safety LTE wireless network for use by first responders only. This unique collaboration allowed for the creation of a secure wireless network for dedicated emergency personnel, and allowed those professionals to quickly converse, strategize and share life-saving data and information, while keeping radios clear for emergency communication.
In 2020, Halton Regional Police Service continued to lead innovations in telecommunications through a newly established Halton-Peel Public Safety Broadband Network Innovation Alliance. This partnership, along with Telesat and Motorola Solutions, utilized a recently launched Telesat Phase 1 Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite, to create a link to extend the LTE data services to Telesat’s operations center in Hanover. This linkage helps reduce barriers associated with rural access to public safety telecommunications and provides a model which could be used throughout remote areas not only across the Region but across Canada.
As the Halton Regional Police Service continues to innovate and pave the path forward, National Public Safety Telecommunications Week is an opportunity to celebrate and appreciate the front-line professionals who rely upon this technology to serve the community and keep our residents safe.