A CTO's View into the Logistics of Public Safety

Eric Hayden, CTO, City of Tampa, Florida

Most people enjoy the outcome— stocked grocery shelves, swift emergency response, seamless GPS navigation—but rarely consider the intricate systems behind them. These aren’t magic tricks. They’re the result of decades of engineering, coordination and logistical mastery.

Think about it: fresh produce stacked just right. No dust, no expired labels, prices clearly marked, all within reach. Or a police officer arriving seconds before a burglary escalates. Or a rescue unit pulling up mere moments after a crash. Even something as routine as your car’s GPS snapping into position, that’s built atop years of training, software architecture and global communications.

Behind every responder who shows up, there’s a team. Behind that team, a logistical framework that makes it all possible.

Logistics is what turns good intentions into reliable outcomes.

Lately, I’ve been reflecting on the long-overdue appreciation owed to the technologists and operational leaders who make all this possible. We listen, observe, capture data and iterate systems until ideas become functioning networks. While logistics touches every facet of society, let’s zoom in on public safety.

According to Maslow’s hierarchy, human well-being begins with physiological and safety needs. Governments can’t elevate every citizen to self-actualization, but they can invest in the foundations: security, stability and access.

Public safety is the cornerstone of those investments.

Departments like Police and Fire rely on logistics to drive:

• Situational awareness

• Operational readiness

• Resource optimization

• Timely response

• Interagency coordination

• Scalability and flexibility

• Transparency and accountability

• Resilience and redundancy

These aren’t buzzwords. They’re the mechanics of how public safety functions. And they work best when delivered through public systems designed for equity and scale. Privatizing emergency services would fragment coverage and deepen disparities among affluent, underserved and rural areas.

Consider how some counties consolidate emergency services, while larger cities like Tampa operate specialized departments. These local agencies partner with county and state systems for seamless, border-to-border coverage, pooling costs and maximizing outcomes.

In Tampa, reducing the time it takes for a first responder to reach a location is paramount. That requires technology, coordination and people in perfect harmony.

A single rescue call involves:

• Real-time vehicle mapping

• 911 call centers and commercial carriers

• Cell towers and GPS satellites

• Trained dispatchers

• Staged first responders

• Equipment ready and operational

Tampa’s Police Department alone fields over 1 million calls for service each year. Add Fire Rescue, and the scale becomes staggering.

Our city spans 114 square miles with 400,000 residents but swells to over 1 million per day due to commuters and visitors. Major highways slice through the core, and city borders divide the county, complicating coordination.

That’s the first challenge: funding infrastructure for 1 million daily lives on a tax base of just 400,000. And yet, we deliver.

I’m biased, of course, but I believe our services are top-tier, powered by strong leadership and the tireless dedication of every responder, from command staff to boots on the ground. Over the years, we’ve studied inefficiencies, analyzed data and honed our logistics to meet evolving needs.

“Behind every responder who shows up, there’s a team. Behind that team is a logistical framework that makes it all possible”

Today, there’s a seamless flow between human action, technology and physical response.

When you start your car and the GPS just works, that’s a bonus feature of the infrastructure we’ve used in emergency services for decades. Long before CarPlay or Android Auto, we leveraged satellites, geolocation and communications to save lives.

911 dispatchers work with integrated systems that combine:

• Caller location

• Traffic camera feeds

• GPS mapping

• Real-time resource availability

• Medical Q&A scripts

• Predictive analytics

• Live communication tools

Vehicles are pre-positioned, stocked and staffed with trained teams. Backup units are staged using predictive models and historical data.

As CTO for the City of Tampa, I ensure all software, hardware and communications systems deliver where they’re needed, whether that’s a patrol car, dispatch desk, command post or helicopter. We provide tools that help send the right assets to the right place at the right time.

The goal: speed response and maximize effectiveness. Both lives and budgets depend on it.

Before stepping into my current role, I worked directly with Public Safety to build dispatch centers and install key systems. My admiration for every frontline worker runs deep. I’ve seen what it takes behind the curtain to support a single responder in the field. These technologies are lifesaving. They must be resilient, redundant and ready 24/7.

My son is a 911 fire/medical emergency dispatch supervisor. My daughter spent time in police dispatch as well. I believe early-career exposure to public service benefits everyone. If more people understood what helps or hinders logistics, we’d build even stronger partnerships between the public and those who serve it.

A bright milestone for Tampa: we’ve recently secured funding to modernize our Fire Response infrastructure. In 2025–2026, we’ll replace our entire dispatch application and communications systems across fire stations and vehicles. Change isn’t easy in emergency services, but adaptability and modernization are non-negotiable.

AI-assisted decision-making, even in modest forms, will route the right data to the right systems faster. Dispatchers now gather 911 call information, push data into multiple systems, contact the right units and document everything over radio—all in real time. Watching them work is humbling.

Their coordination doesn’t end when the call is dispatched. It continues throughout the incident. These are the unsung heroes. They are the eyes, ears and logistical minds powering every successful response.

Their toolkit includes:

• Traffic cameras

• Voice radios

• Vehicle location mapping

• 911 call systems

• Caller geo location

• City maps

• Medical protocols

•Years of institutional knowledge about traffic, gated communities and building layouts

By summer 2026, upgrades will allow on-scene responders to share incident data in real time, streamlining radio traffic. Fire stations will receive more detailed audible alerts, timers and incident displays, freeing cognitive bandwidth and amplifying clarity. Stay tuned, I am very excited to be able to share information on our modernization when we go live. Like air traffic controllers, 911 dispatchers operate in tightly coordinated systems. They may work at ground level, but their reach is sky-high.

Training, ingenuity and technology are the core ingredients. I’m excited to see how modern tools will elevate performance while easing the burden of this demanding profession.

In a perfect world, emergency services would rarely be needed. But readiness is how we meet each challenge. I’m proud to work beside teams who’ve mastered the quiet art of logistics, serving some of the most vital roles in our communities and who are always up to the task.

Logistics

GPS

Predictive Analytics

Cognitive

AI