FOP Call to Action: Critical Officer Safety Issue, Pass a Clean FirstNet Reauthorization
Tomorrow, the House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a markup on H.R. 7386, the “First Responder Network Authority Reauthorization Act,” which would reauthorize the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) through 2037. FirstNet is an indispensable, nationwide public safety communications network trusted by public safety for its proven reliability and resiliency.
The legislation, however, proposes several changes that will hinder FirstNet’s primary objectives and introduce uncertainties that will jeopardize emergency operations, community protection, and public safety.
This is a critical officer safety issue!
WE ARE URGING ALL FOP MEMBERS TO CONTACT THE COMMITTEE AND URGE THEM TO PASS A “CLEAN” REAUTHORIZATION WITHOUT ADDING NEW LEVELS OF BUREAUCRACY!
Call the committee NOW at (202)225-3641 or email them through the FOP’s VoterVoice
FirstNet is insulated from short-term commercial, bureaucratic, and political pressures, making it highly accountable to the public safety community it serves and has the right structure for a network that American lives depend upon. Shifting decision-making authority away from public safety professionals and placing it in the hands of bureaucrats could revive old weaknesses, marginalize frontline input, and delay vital choices. It would also risk reintroducing the very coordination failures exposed during the attacks of September 11, 2001—failures that led directly to the creation of FirstNet.
This is not just an issue for the Fraternal Order of Police–it affects ALL emergency responders.
As the statutory deadline approaches, it is clear that a clean reauthorization is the most effective path forward. FirstNet is the most significant investment this nation has ever made in the communications infrastructure for the men and women who protect our communities. Allowing that investment to lapse or to be weakened through diluted governance authority would be a profound failure of our obligation to those officers and the public they serve.
