Successful communication is essential to reducing risk and maximizing effective public safety response outcomes.
Having he capability to alert the general public and facilitate communication among multiple emergency response agencies in different jurisdictions is crucial. IPBS member stations embrace their public safety responsibility and are focused on maximizing their broadcast spectrum to help keep the public safe.
IPBS stations serve their communities by providing weather radar, AMBER alerts, and wireless emergency alerts. In Indiana, public television broadcast spectrum has been used to demonstrate the efficacy of datacasting as a vital safety tool.
In 2018, PBS Fort Wayne, in partnership with the US Department of Homeland Security and Indiana’s Integrated Public Safety Commission, conducted the first-of-its-kind simulation of a school shooting thwarted by datacasting. The simulation demonstrated how first responders could use datacasting to send encrypted, targetable data streams (e.g., topographical images, building blueprints, and live school camera video from multiple angles) to designated public safety personnel to help swiftly locate and neutralize an active shooter. Now, all Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations are looking to adopt datacasting technology and broaden its uses to include distance education, public safety communication redundancy, expansion of broadband, telehealth, workforce training, and precision agriculture, among others.