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SPECIAL REPORT Mission Critical Communications: Challenges & Solutions SUMMARY Fairfax, Va. Police purchased Verizon Wireless 4G LTE modems to give officers faster access to state and federal law enforcement databases from their patrol vehicles. Verizon's solution also helped with their 9-1-1 upgrade. MORE INFORMATION www.verizonwireless.com www.fairfaxcounty.gov/police FAIRFAX, VA. AND VERIZON WIRELESS Verizon connects Fairfax PD's officers wirelessly. Lieutenant Matthew Duckett with dispatchers Tina Yous (left) and Leah Myers (right), who used Verizon Wireless LG VL600 4G LTE USB cards via laptops at the Fairfax County Public Safety & Transportation Operations Center during the 9-1-1 system upgrade. By Susan Geoghegan W hat started out as an innovative solution for managing a major upgrade to its 9-1-1 system resulted in a "best practice" benchmark for the City of Fairfax, Va. In the fall of 2011, the city's Police Department and Emergency Communications Center was faced with having to move their existing emergency call system to another facility for four days in order to initiate the upgrade. When the origi- nal plan to use Fairfax County's network as a backup was proving to be a challenging and costly option, it was time to come up with an alternative. In August 2010, as head of the IT division, Fairfax Deputy Chief Major Carl Pardiny utilized funds from a small grant 46 LAW and ORDER I July 2012 to purchase Verizon Wireless 4G LTE modems for the de- partment's laptops. According to Pardiny, the new equip- ment would give officers faster access to state and federal law enforcement databases from their patrol vehicles. The following year, when Lieutenant Matt Duckett was tasked with creating an effective plan for the department's 9-1-1 upgrade, he realized they could leverage the technol- ogy obtained by Pardiny to ensure a seamless transition. The Verizon Wireless modems, along with the NetMotion software critical for secure connectivity, allowed them to efficiently accomplish the upgrade without interrupting emergency services. Lt. Duckett said the plan called for redirecting all emer-