[music]
Urban Operational Experimentation
is all about bringing together the public safety community
with the technology developers in an environment
where we can cut past some of the product marketing
and really get first responders hands-on with technologies.
This week's all about introducing new
and emerging technologies to first responders in a way
that totally removes the risk from them.
And some of the end goals are to provide direct
feedback to them about what works,
what doesn't work for their organization.
Get direct feedback to the vendors
that were invited out here,
what they can do to improve their technologies,
and then take all of that and put it in a report
that can be shared
with the national first responder community
that wasn't here for this event.
For the developers, they really need the feedback
to understand the particulars of the operational environment
of the first responders.
Today we're looking at
drone technology, which I think can be a big help for the FDNY.
I think if we had large incidents,
it would be good to have a different perspective,
a different view of that incident
from the air, obviously.
And I like the idea of a drone
getting out in front of some of our units
to let them know what
they're approaching, what they're going into.
It would be nice to know
if fire was blowing out the windows
before we arrived at the fire. You could set up a plan
and be more effective.
I was really looking forward to this in terms of being able
to test the latest unmanned systems in particular.
MTA, we're standing up our drone program right now
and our ability to not only test the latest technology,
but also interact with our interagency partners
and NYPD, FDNY, New York City Office of Emergency Management,
the New York state observers here.
Technology doesn't always perform
to what we would call it got an A.
We see failures, which is good because it's those failures
that help
the developers understand how to move their technology forward
so that ultimately it is useful for the first responders.
Technology is so vital for our nation's first responders,
be they firefighters or emergency
medical personnel, or police officers.
You know, we're right out front serving the American public.
The dynamics of our job are constantly changing,
the challenges, and technology is what helps us
meet those challenges.
It helps us to be able to stay ahead of the curve
and be able to provide those lifesaving services.
So it's always important to be on the cutting edge.
NUSTL helps us with that.
We have to be one step ahead of the bad guys, you know?
So if we don't know what's out there
or I haven't tested it thoroughly, we might not be
ahead of the game.
We might be behind the eight ball.
So it's important to always stay ahead.
There's really no other testing event that I know of
that brings together all of these public
safety agencies in one venue to be able to test like this.
So what I hope is that the public sees
their public safety agencies going out there,
willing to invest in these technologies, to test them
and to understand that, you know
we're just not deploying officers
or deploying people out there.
We're actually looking
at utilizing technology to make the transportation
environment and everyday life in the city safer.
Without government backing,
without funding, without research, things
change much slower.
So to have these partnerships and the backing,
the funding in multiple agencies
and financial resources from larger agencies,
we wouldn't have the innovations that we do today.
So they're incredibly important.
[music]