Public safety alerting: a new era

Many UK emergency services are currently rolling out smart devices to the front line, something which has prompted much discussion – not least in the pages of Land Mobile – about how to get the best use from 4G-enabled apps.

Just as pertinent, however, are the opportunities afforded by LTE technology to help people get in contact with safety-critical agencies in the first place. This too is an area where organisations are just starting to scratch the surface of what’s possible, and where demand is only likely to increase as ever-more sophisticated devices become available to the public.

Integral to the hoped-for proliferation of innovative ways to contact the emergency services is a UK-based app accreditation scheme, run by the British Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (BAPCO). Steered by the organisation’s vice president Andy Rooke, it has developed a series of protocols relating to so-called ‘alerting’ apps existing in the 999/112 space.