Motorola Solutions has revealed in its first 'Transforming Public Safety Communications in Europe and Africa: 4 Key Factors' white paper that 47 per cent of respondents want to use LTE alongside their existing LMR system.
The study, which surveyed 100 public safety professionals across Europe and Africa in a cross-section of agencies, also found that 44 per cent are continuing to invest in LMR while planning for a future LTE network. Only 28 per cent are continuing to invest in LMR without planning to use LTE. The survey also states that more than 60 per cent of participants are either already on a digital LMR network (33 per cent) or considering a move to digital within the next three years (28 per cent).
The study also found that 77 per cent of participants’ view having instant, reliable information at their fingertips as ‘critical’ or ‘very important’ while working in the field and 81 per cent of participants need to communicate freely across different networks and devices.
Media sharing through social network platforms is "well established" in public safety as almost three quarters (73 per cent) of participants use it for outbound communications. More than half (52 per cent) use it to receive information and monitor events as they unfold. The study also found that almost half (49 per cent) of emergency call centres can receive text messages from the public.
Other factors:
- Virus, malware scanners and firewalls are the most popular cyber security tools, being used by 77 per cent and 72 per cent of participants respectively but 22 per cent either didn’t know what tools are being used or use no tools at all.
- Manual analysis may be common as 15 per cent of agencies use video analytics software, with budgetary constraints causing 44 per cent of respondents to claim administrative overheads and the costs of managing large amounts of data as a major reason not to install systems.
- Almost a third of participants found that public safety broadband is constrained by budgets as 27 per cent worry about perceived reliability or network availability and 18 per cent fear poor regional coverage, with 16 per cent blaming a lack of common standards.
The widespread use of smartphones, barriers to video adoption and a lack of understanding of cybersecurity threatens new solutions due to the “smartphone effect”, which is where public safety users expect the same functionality from both work and home tools. More than 40 per cent of responders are using their own smartphones while on duty but only 26 per cent of agencies reimburse them.
The report states that many agencies continue to provide staff with smartphones, "despite the potential security risks, durability issues or lack of dedicated safety features".
The survey for Europe and Africa was conducted in late 2015, building on a similar survey conducted in North America, now in its fifth year. Of the respondents, 36 per cent of agencies have fewer than 50 employees, 17 per cent have between 51 and 100, six per cent between 101 and 250, nine per cent between 251 and 750, and 32 per cent more than 750 employees. Survey participants include public safety officials in police, fire, emergency medical services, defence and government administration and departments.
