Verizon Frontline and Public Safety Agencies Team up for Super Bowl LVI Business
We've got some great deals going on right now exclusively for our online customers... chat now to hear more! Choose your country to view contact details. Manage your account or get tools and information. It may be one of the most-watched sporting events of the year, but the action during a Super Bowl game is by no means limited to what you can see on the field. Behind the scenes, thousands of public sector personnel from over 70 different public safety agencies work hard to ensure the well-being of attendees and the surrounding community. Their work requires years of planning and effective coordination before, during and after the game. While Super Bowls LV and LVI may be remembered as wins for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Los Angeles Rams, they were also victories for first responders who used 5G technology to communicate and collaborate, ensuring successful public safety operations. Public safety at an event as high profile as a Super Bowl is a team effort. Various public safety agencies partner and coordinate with thousands of first responders who work for various federal, state and local law enforcement. For Super Bowl LVI, hosted at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, teams of first responders were stationed at Inglewood's State-of-the-art Senior Center, a multipurpose facility that served as the Joint Operations Center (JOC) for public safety, according to Patrick Au, IT System Analyst for City Of Inglewood assigned to lead Inglewood's Information Technology Department response to Super Bowl. Different agencies operated out of specific rooms but would come together in a larger space to hold meetings and update each other as the planning unfolded. Almost every agency that I've ever heard about, and even some that I didn't know about, had a presence there, Au said. They would collaborate and share any information that needed to be passed on or acted upon.,To stay on top of the countless potential public safety threats, first responders needed to provide real-time situational-awareness reporting to a wide array of partner agencies. Few people have the firsthand experience of such a collaborative operation come together as does Brian Dugan. As the former chief of police for the city of Tampa, Fla. Dugan was directly involved in helping oversee public safety efforts during Super Bowl LV in 2021. After retiring from the police force, Dugan joined the Verizon First Responder Advisory Council (VFRAC), providing him with an opportunity to advise and guide first responders during Super Bowl LVI. Everybody has to stay in their lane, so to speak, but you also need to be able to communicate with each other, because everybody has a certain layer of responsibility and every partner there brings a certain expertise, Dugan said. You have to be able to share information so that you can have the proper response, and with that many agencies, it's a big job., Verizon First Responder Advisory Council, and former Chief of Police, Tampa, Florida,The range of potential public safety concerns at a Super Bowl is vast. To address these concerns, the team needs to be ready to combat everything from chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats to cyber security attacks. Other team members are constantly conducting infrastructure and venue security assessments. It's just like a president's inauguration in terms of security—you get that many agencies involved, Dugan said. You have to be able to communicate, no matter what, and your biggest fear is not being able to communicate if something happens.,While communication and a few other public safety issues remain consistent from one Super Bowl to another, the 2022 game had some significant security challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dugan noted that first responders needed to adhere to health and safety protocols that wouldn't have been a factor a few years before. There was still a requirement for social distancing and for wearing masks, he said. That meant they had to think about how they were going to control the queue to get fans into the stadium safely. There were a lot of different logistical challenges due to the pandemic.,Strong partnerships also help law enforcement and public safety agencies assess what kind of communication technology each team is working with and develop an interoperable solution. From an IT perspective, this can be a significant challenge, as not everyone is working on a level playing field. Verizon First Responder Advisory Council, and former Chief of Police, Tampa, FloridaThat's where plays a critical role. The Verizon Frontline Crisis Response Team works with them closely at these big events prior to the game to make sure the network was at optimal performance," Dugan said. "Then there's the after action review where officials gave us the devices they used at the event, so Verizon could analyze that data to make sure that everything was working so that they could apply it to future events. "I even gave Verizon my phone number, and they looked at the data to see how the phone performed during the event.",Overcoming interoperability hurdles also is critical because there's another group who keeps their eyes on security issues—the public. The biggest concern you have about communications is not only about your first responder community but your fans that are out there, Dugan said. You're relying on them to give you feedback, to call 911 or to put something out on social media. You're monitoring all these different things, and so from a public safety standpoint, you're concerned about the ability to communicate with each other and also with the general public.,First responders can't let their guard down once the Super Bowl wraps, either. Dugan noted post-game celebrations can attract sizable crowds and introduce other unexpected and unpredictable risks, especially when—as in this case—the local team, the Rams, emerged as the winner. You have a lot more people that come into the area that don't even go to the game—they just want to be part of the experience, he said. They want to stand outside the stadium and hope they get to see Tom Brady or whomever. It just creates a lot of other pressure., IT System Analyst, City of Inglewood Information Technology Department,Fortunately for all involved, 5G technology offered a solution tailored to address the interoperability challenges public safety agencies faced at Super Bowl LVI. With guidance from VFRAC and in consultation with multiple public safety agencies, Verizon invested $119 million to enhance network communications surrounding SoFi Stadium and the immediate vicinity. This included a rollout of 5G Ultra Wideband (UWB) in the area, as well as more than 160 small cells, four macro cells and 24 in-building cells. The Verizon Frontline Crisis Response Team also pre-positioned deployable assets that provided enhanced network coverage—such as a generator on a trailer (GOAT), satellite picocell on a trailer (SPOT), cell on light truck (COLT) and satellite trailer emitting equipment remote (STEER)—near the Inglewood Police Department's JOC. At the JOC itself, in partnership with 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) edge solutions provider Inseego, Verizon Frontline added redundancy and resiliency, helping to provide federal, state and local public safety agencies with the network reliability and speed they would need to communicate and coordinate during Super Bowl public safety operations. The Verizon Frontline Crisis Response Team supports public safety agencies at the Super Bowl with a three-pronged approach much like a championship football team operates in three phases. A systems performance team serves as the offense, while an operational network assurance team provides the necessary defense." Finally, special teams members are deployed to address priorities such as backhaul monitoring, operating switching centers and managing tower crews. For Dugan, joining VFRAC gave him an eye-opening window into Verizon's operating methods. As a first responder, you start planning about two years out—building partnerships and relationships with other agencies so that when the game does come, you already know each other, he said. I wasn't aware that Verizon did the same thing. The fact they start planning the work that they do behind the scenes two years out, and the redundancy that they have in place at their facilities—it was just amazing to me. I didn't know that they put that much into it.,For Au, the value of Verizon Frontline Crisis Response Team's work with public safety agencies during Super Bowl LVI might be best measured by what didn't happen. The actual day of the event went about as smoothly as possible. No news is good news, he said. To say that it was boring from a security perspective is a good thing. To say that it was run-of-the-mill and that nothing happened is awesome.,There were, however, some more tangible impacts from the partnership between the Verizon Frontline Crisis Response Team and public safety agencies. By integrating 5G UWB technology into the JOC's internet service, police and other first responders were able to stream the video surveillance footage captured by the helicopters flying around the area during the game in 4K. The throughput was not only more powerful than what was available previously, but also provided multiple layers of redundancy in case other network services went down. Being able to stream 4K video is critical because it offers the bit rate and pixel count that give law enforcement teams the ability to see what's going on in granular detail. Police could zoom in to identify an object in somebody's hand, for instance, or whether the object they're carrying was a backpack or not. We had about 30 screens of different sizes, with footage coming from all different sources, Au said. Some of the displays were actually showing live footage from the cameras so personnel could have firsthand knowledge of what was happening at different intersections.,Au noted the initial plan had been to deploy cabling as a source of connectivity for the Super Bowl, but there were complications with running it through different hubs. This is where Verizon's 5G fixed wireless access proved transformative. The Verizon solution was simple, he said. Verizon had fixed 5G Ultra Wideband wireless access up and running in a couple of hours, whereas I had spent almost two weeks going through paperwork trying to figure out how to set up a fiber connection in the same area.,, IT System Analyst, City of Inglewood Information Technology Department,Though Super Bowl LVI may be over, the value the community will receive from Verizon's investment in 5G technology is only beginning. That infrastructure will be utilized for years to come, whether in support of a future Super Bowl or for similar gatherings. These stadiums where the Super Bowls are held are used for multiple reasons," Dugan said. "The fact that Verizon's investment sticks around is very important—not only for law enforcement or first responders but for our citizens to be able to communicate with each other and with our first responders.For Au, the success in protecting the public during Super Bowl LVI was a good reminder to start preparations early, you should not buy new shoes days prior to the marathon, so you can focus on the event and not the shoes on the day of. Starting the strategic discussions with disparate public safety agencies and investing in technologies early in the process helps organizations get into a greater state of readiness at the time of an event. Dugan added that it's also important to stay up to date on technology because it rapidly changes and improves. But you can't stay abreast of the latest innovations effectively, he said, without cultivating a strong relationship with the right trusted advisers, including his fellow VFRAC members. With a successful Super Bowl LVI, Verizon's partnership with Inglewood helps to prepare for future events. Sometimes as a law enforcement or first responder community, we know what we need and where we want to go, but we don't know how to get there, he said. It's so important that you have those partnerships. I don't think people realize—or at least I didn't realize—the quality and the tenure of the employees at Verizon, and the commitment that they put in far in advance to make everything in public safety better.,, Verizon First Responder Advisory Council, and former Chief of Police, Tampa, Florida,Learn more about Verizon's advanced solutions for first responders. Choose your country to view contact details. Manage your account or get tools and information. These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. 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