It may come as a surprise to many who are used to so many things being coordinated across the continent, but police and fire emergency communications largely stop at the borders—but that’s about to change.
The European Commission is working on setting up emergency communications that will link first responders across the bloc in a single network, using broadband technology such as 5G. At present, emergency communication is mainly radio-based, and the emergency frequencies don’t cross borders.
EU Internal Affairs commissioner Magnus Brunner said “When crisis strikes, our first responders must be able to communicate instantly across agencies, across borders, across Europe” in calling for the new EU Critical Communication System. The system, which would use land-based and satellite communication as backups for each other, would work through a central hub and monitoring system.
Brunner also gave some examples of the problems the new system would help prevent, including a massive wildfire last summer in Belgium’s High Fens area, on the border with Germany. “The moment a first responder had to cross the border, their radio actually stopped working,” he said.
