Connected Under Pressure: How Network Slicing Keeps Public Safety Online When It Matters Most

When tens of thousands of people converge on a single location for a major sporting championship, a political convention, a marathon or a large-scale public gathering, commercial cellular networks buckle under the load. For law enforcement and public safety personnel operating in those environments, that congestion isn't an inconvenience. It's a mission risk.

In this webinar, host Marcus Claycomb, retired Commander and FBINAA Session #273 graduate is joined by Gopal Manseta from Verizon and Shawn Romanoski of the Boston Police Department, to explore how 5G network slicing changes the equation. Unlike network priority or preemption, slicing carves out a dedicated, isolated lane for public safety traffic that civilian demand simply cannot touch - ensuring that officer communications, real-time situational awareness tools, and field intelligence feeds remain operational precisely when the environment is most demanding.

The conversation draws on real operational experience managing connectivity at high-density events and extends to broader challenges law enforcement faces today: the bandwidth demands of AI-assisted field tools, growing wireless threat surfaces at public gatherings, and the role device design plays in actually delivering on the promise of advanced networks. Because a dedicated network slice is only as reliable as the device connecting to it.