♪   ♪   ♪
McGarry: We respond to a lot of
911 calls every day,
and things really need to work.
McGarry:There's a lot of running
messages back and forth
between the folks that are on-scene
command to kind of know
what the various services
are doing, what their status is.
McGarry: If we were able to
track that using some technology
tools,
those on-scene commanders
would know what's going on
inherently.
Anthony: Safety is always a
priority.
Anthony: We go into some of
these high-rise buildings in the
basements, 
and we're investigating things
which sometimes are the most
dangerous places to be,
and we don't have communication.
Anthony: That's a tough, tough
spot you're in.
♪   ♪   ♪
Cotter: The Next Generation
First Responder Apex Project
is an effort where we're trying
to bring together all of our
research and development
investments in order to ensure
that the future first responder
is protected
against all the hazards that
they face during their job, 
that they're connected to
their peers, 
to their commanders, and to
the citizens that they need
to support 
through their radios,
smartphones, other devices
including the future of public
safety broadband,
and they're fully aware that
they have the information that
they need to do their job.
♪  ♪  ♪
Anthony: Going through a
building, being able to track
where the firefighters are
in the building so if you do
have a Mayday,
that we're able to respond to
that and know exactly, 
pinpoint exactly where that
firefighter is down.
Farr: Not only do I want to
know where they are,
I want the officers on the street
to have the ability to have good
situational awareness.
Farr: My goal here is that the
officer doesn't take eyes off
of what they're looking at.
Could you get a heads-up display?
Could you get something in that
officer's line of vision 
that would continue to bring
that information up as they go?
Farr: In the best world if I
could put sensors on them, 
I would look at something
intelligent but obviously the
most common, 
the chem-bio threats,
the gas threats.
Farr: I would be very interested
in having some kind of sensor
that allows us 
to identify explosive devices,
that I can do trace analysis
in the air 
for suicide bombers or some of
the stuff that our officers are
more likely to face.
Farr: If you don't know the
27 different talk groups,
and you don't know the 27
channels within those 27
different talk groups,
it can be somewhat
cumbersome if you're not
really used to it.
Farr: So a better way could be
managed through an emergency
communication center.
That when we have an event go on,
they know which things that they're
gonna patch through immediately.
English: When the boots hit the
ground on the scene, 
if a police officer has a
tactical picture of where
an active shooter is
they'll know where to
vector their response. 
English: If a firefighter knows
what side of the house the
fire is on,
where the exposures are,
they'll know where to put the
engines and hoses. 
It's very important to be able to
control an incident, not just
respond to it.
Cotter: The Next Generation First
Responder Apex Project is about
supporting the mission
of the public safety community.
This is their mission. 
Cotter: Our job is to understand
what they need and support them.
Cotter: We need your input so
we make sure we get that right.
McGarry: S&T's role is really
gonna be to focus on how do
these different components
like wearables, computing,
sensing, communications,
visualization,
how do they plug in and interact
with one another?
It will allow for responders to be
able to procure equipment that
they know will work
with the other pieces of
equipment that they have.
English: Probably one of the
most important things S&T is
helping in here
is creating solutions not only
that public safety can use, but
with the leverage that the federal
government has, creating solutions
that we can afford.
English: The overarching goal for
this program,
and I think most folks would
agree, is saving lives.
English: How do we give responders
the tools to save lives?
And how do we keep
responders safe doing it?
English: And as a responder for
many years, I don't think there's
any better goal out there.
♪   ♪   ♪
