• February 2, 2023

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The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) just concluded a survey of more than 7,100 first responders which dives into what U.S. police, fire, emergency medical, and 911 dispatch responders think about the communications technology they use every day and how they would like to see it improved in the future.

NIST’s “Voice of First Responders” project began five years ago with around 200 interviews with first responders. Researchers then used these interviews as the basis to develop a survey that NIST explained was the “largest of its kind ever to investigate public safety personnel user experiences.” After reviewing the survey responses, it is evident first responders want technology that is trustworthy, reliable, controllable, and reduces user frustration.

“Our findings are aimed at the research and development community, but we are also trying to reach administrators who make purchases,” said Yee-Yin Choong, an industrial engineer at NIST. “Technology needs to be trustworthy, and the users need autonomy over it. Our results indicate that if you focus on those things, the users will be happier.”

When it comes to future technology development, six key takeaways were made clear: (1) improve current technology, (2) develop technology that does not interfere with or distract from first responders’ attention, (3) accommodate public safety’s wide variety of needs, across disciplines, districts and contexts of use, (4) minimize “technology for technology’s sake”, (5) lower product and service costs, and (6) make it easy for the user to do the right thing, hard to do the wrong thing, and easy to recover when the wrong thing happens.

“We set out to understand this technology from their perspective, to find out what is working for them and what isn’t,” explained Choong.

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Sources:

rcrwireless.com/20230130/public-safety/what-do-first-responders-want-from-communications-tech