Each state has different types of stakeholders affiliated with the public safety and first responder communities. Identify the range of stakeholders in your state and involve a select number of representatives from some of these groups in the planning process.
Each focus group interview is designed around five core questions:
-
How would you describe the existing level of communications interoperability?
-
Why do we need to change, and what will happen if we don’t change?
-
What do we want the state’s future system for communications to look like?
-
What problems might we encounter when striving for this future system?
-
What recommendations do we have to move from our current system to our future system?
Practitioners informed about interoperability issues will create a plan that most directly meets the needs of the user community. The Virginia project team created criteria to help identify the “right” focus group participants. The criteria included:
-
Field experience,
-
An identifiable leadership role in the public safety field, and
-
Familiarity with issues relating to communications interoperability.
While the criteria listed above is somewhat general, it is not intended to exclude individuals who wish to attend. It can, however, serve as a tool to communicate with the public safety community about the expectations for participation in the strategic planning process.
See Appendix K and L for a summary of Virginia’s process for identifying participants and a phone script template by which to identify participants through phone screening.
Lesson Learned: Include participants who fall outside the traditional first responder community to facilitate education and awareness about interoperability issues.
While full participation of local level responders and practitioners in the focus group interviews is important, it is also imperative to include state and federal representatives. Full participation by all groups of stakeholders throughout each phase will build shared understanding and awareness of the current situation and strengthen relationships for the implementation phase of the strategic plan.