Interview with Brad Stoddard

1)Tell us something about your career journey or personal experiences that isn’t included in your official bio.

A few items regarding my career journey was initiated in the Space and Defense sector where I honed my skills on technology and scenarios that were not for conversation away from the office. That type of work environment set in motion a passion for solutions that support our first responders in every facet that they face day-to-day. I learned from seasoned engineers and staff that taught me key skills in leadership, politics, and perseverance, even on the toughest days. I also coached travel basketball for girls and boys for a decade and had the opportunity to pass on key skills of teamwork, sportsmanship, listening and caring for one another, even if they may have been on different teams. I also was awarded the Legion of Merit from the Michigan National Guard. I also was a recipient as the most influential person in land mobile radio by Mission Critical Communications. I’m still just a regular guy.

2)What are some of the most significant challenges faced during the implementation of P25 systems, and how were they overcome?

There are number of challenges that can be encountered in the process of implementing P25 standards-based systems. Some of the those may be qualified as governance challenges, siting challenges (i.e., building towers), financial challenges, technology (backhaul) and even sometimes politics can show its problematic head during these efforts. These are all overcome in the same manner, people talking to one another. It’s easy to point fingers and identify blame, but it takes the best leadership to collaborate and find pathways to solutions that still ensure the objectives of the system buildout is still achieved. In the early days of P25 there were fewer vendors that provided solutions from the architecture to the radios and now there are many vendors in that space providing numerous options for radios that will operate on any of the p25 systems. Additionally, there was not a “playbook” for building these systems, and deriving procedures and policies were based on prior legacy systems , so a few of us had to embark in the efforts of documenting these early systems, the processes, procedures, and policies that would govern these systems. Now through many different communities we share that information out to others to help them get a jump on some of those challenges and lessons learned that earlier systems had faced.

3) Can you share a specific case study where a P25 system made a measurable difference in a public safety operation?

There are countless examples all around the nation where the P25 systems were the only communication tool operating for the end users. I recall examples where natural disasters destroyed other communication networks and the only solution operating was the P25 land mobile radios systems. This has occurred during hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, ice storms, and blackouts. Most recently in Michigan where a catastrophic ice storm stalled over northern lower Michigan knocking out commercial carriers, internet providers, and other traditional communications solutions, the only communications tool used by first responders, public safety, hospitals, emergency managers, local and state government and utilities was Michigan’s statewide P25 land mobile radio solution, known as Michigan’s Public Safety Communications System (MPSCS). Even when carriers were reporting little impacts, we were well aware of the widespread communications gaps for anyone that was not operating on the P25 system

4) How do P25 systems ensure interoperability across different agencies and jurisdictions?

There are multiple ways to approach this from the standards process ensuring that radios made by manufacturers adhere to common standards and will operate on different manufacturers P25 systems is the basis for the success of interoperability. That then transitions to a governance model by the government entity responsible for operating the P25 systems. There are robust approaches to ensure public safety in communities, adjoining communities or part of mutual aid responses have access to the same talkgroups enabling that simple capability of like disciplines or different disciplines to communicate effectively day-to-day or during larger events in both planned and unplanned scenarios. Not to just skim over the standards, but that is a very robust process that ensures the users requirements are vetted and then added to the standards that all the manufacturers will build to. As P25 has evolved over the past 35 plus years, so have the standards ensuring that as users needs of the technologies evolve so will the technology as well.

5) What are the key factors to consider when planning and deploying a P25 communication system?

The users. It’s one thing to plan for the number of towers, what kind of backhaul and identify the staff to support this new system, but the success of the system will be modeled by the users of the system. Having a solid governance process in place that focuses heavily on promoting interoperability between users. This transcends from the 911 centers to the first responders on the street. When you can plan accordingly and effectively around the users of the system, the technology solutions and coverage become less problematic as eth users know what is needed, where and how to utilize the power of shared p25 systems.

6) How do you see P25 systems evolving in the future to meet the changing needs of public safety communications?

P25 LMR has proved itself for almost 100 years, so the evolution has continued to occur based on the growing needs of the community of users. Location tracking embedded in the radio is a need across the nation, it’s one thing to hear the users voice over the radio, but its another to know where they are. So, tools and standards to make that a baseline in the radio in lieu of a paid option is a key shift. Others are security controls on these networks as they continue to evolve and include more IT components, we need to make sure they are protected from threats. Future scenarios may make radios that have both the P25 portion of a radio and an LTE portion where space satellite coverage may address remote terrestrial needs where towers can’t or are unable to be constructed, such examples might be in remote public safety communities on the fringe of the P25 networks.

7) What can attendees expect to gain from your session at IWCE 2026?

Knowledge! We recently celebrated our 30^th year of having a statewide P25 system and with that came years of experience in growth, collaboration, and dismissing politics that were affecting adoption around the State. We are starting our third generation of this network and sharing with the audience how the p25 standards process, basic communication and outreach with our user community, and planning accordingly as we evolve these large customer operated and managed systems.

8) What are you most excited about for IWCE 2026, and how do you think the event will impact the industry?

I always look forward to the networking at IWCE. The conference brings together the best and the brightest in this space and attending the sessions, workshops and the vendor floor provide abundant opportunities to expand your network of colleagues and knowledge of the today and the tomorrow of technology. The speakers are generous with their time following their sessions and through the years I have left the events with added knowledge in areas I was searching for and the expertise from those that shared their wisdom with the attendees.