STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Mission Critical Partners (MCP) has released its 2025 State of the Industry Report, which provides a comprehensive analysis of key challenges and opportunities shaping the public-safety communications sector. This annual report, in its third year, explores deep insights into nine critical aspects influencing the sector, including evolving technologies and emerging trends.
The report is based on MCP’s proprietary Model for Advancing Public Safety® (MAPS®) methodology, which leverages the collective expertise of nearly 250 subject-matter experts, industry standards and best practices, and accreditation programs. Each factor is assessed using a structured risk framework that categorizes elements as low risk, medium risk, or high risk. This information is supplemented by anecdotal observations stemming from MCP’s extensive work with public-safety agencies nationwide.
“A lot is happening in public safety, and it is happening fast,” said Darrin Reilly, MCP’s president and chief executive officer.
“This report equips public-safety leaders with the insights they need to stay ahead of evolving challenges, adopt emerging technologies, and make informed decisions that enhance their operations to better protect the communities they serve.”
Each chapter focuses on one critical aspect and examines its relevance to the public-safety sector; identifies changes that have ensued since the last state of the market report, which was published in 2024; analyzes the impact of those changes; and identifies emerging trends. The chapters are as follows:
- Land Mobile Radio — On a macro level, LMR systems haven’t changed much since the ratification of the Project 25 standards two decades ago. However, on a micro level, several changes have emerged that bear watching, including multimodal operation, cloud-based infrastructure, and the negative impact of bidirectional amplifiers.
- Geographic Information Systems — GIS continues to play an important role in the public-safety sector. While the state of GIS data is generally positive, challenges exist, e.g., staffing shortages in GIS professions pose a growing challenge.
- Next Generation 911 Readiness — While NG911 implementations progress, numerous advancements have occurred in the last year. Governance bodies increasingly are mandating compliance with the National Emergency Number Association (NENA)'s i3 standards; technological enhancements are improving indoor and 3D mapping, leading to faster and more-accurate emergency-response capabilities; and automation is optimizing NG911 workflows.
- 911 Center Operations — 911 center operations continue to be driven by persistent staffing shortages, a lack of viable career pathways for telecommunicators, and a highly stressful work environment. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is gaining traction rapidly and Internet of Things (IoT) devices are becoming valuable sources of real-time data.
- Staffing — This continues to be one of the most vexing challenges within the public-safety sector. However, the situation seems to be improving somewhat, fueled by creative approaches to recruitment, retention, hiring, compensation, and shift configurations. Centers increasingly are reporting that they are close to meeting authorized staffing levels.
- Security — The physical security of public-safety facilities generally is solid and has been for quite some time. Public-safety officials are increasing their focus on cybersecurity and are modernizing their strategies and tactics, which include stronger monitoring of networks, systems, and devices, and adopting a layered defense strategy against evolving threats.
- Data Integration —Structured data governance models are becoming more popular; cloud-based solutions are enabling scalable, secure data integration; artificial intelligence (AI) is being leveraged to improve data quality; and automation is helping to improve efficiency and consistency in data handling, reducing human error.
- Artificial Intelligence — Excitement regarding AI in the public-safety sector is exploding. While still at a nascent stage, AI-driven applications are reducing the time required for routine administrative tasks significantly; are being used to handle nonemergency calls; and are freeing telecommunicators to focus on calls that involve actual emergencies requiring their unique skills and experience.
- Operational Change Management — This is a new chapter. Organizations are beginning to embrace OCM, which creates a structured pathway to ensure that both the technical and human aspects of change are effectively managed. The need for OCM is amplified as organizations plan and execute modernization projects that involve moving premises-based applications to cloud-native, IT-based environments.
For more information and to access the full 2025 State of the Industry Report, visit MCP’s website.