Every day, shift after shift, Verizon Frontline — Verizon’s advanced network and technology for first responders—helps ensure that the Quincy Police Department’s officers have fast, reliable connectivity, whether on foot or mobile. In recent years, Verizon Frontline has helped Quincy Police Department Chief Carlos Hill expand and strengthen his department’s portfolio of advanced public safety devices and technology, from state-of-the-art body and dash cams to mobile data terminals in patrol cars.
The Quincy Police Department offers compelling proof of how the powerful combination of Verizon Frontline wireless connectivity solutions, innovative public safety devices and a responsive technology partner can empower officers—and keep citizens safe and protected.
Quincy is a city of 8,000 in the lush northwestern corner of Florida, inland from the coast. Its rolling farmland, slow pace and graceful historic buildings make it a welcome change from the big-city hustle of nearby Tallahassee. But Quincy faces the same challenges as any Florida city, including extreme weather events and crime. To keep citizens safe, the Quincy Police Department has invested in advanced technology, including key public safety connected solutions powered by Verizon Wireless.
“For us, communication is—on a scale of 1 to 10— probably 11,” says Chief Carlos Hill, who has spent 34 years dedicated to military and civilian law enforcement, including nine years with the Quincy Police Department. “Communication is very important for us to do our job. Not just collaborate with each other, but also to connect with our community—and with surrounding communities when they need help.” For more than six years, Verizon Frontline has served as the Quincy Police Department’s partner—for strengthening public safety communication.
Quincy Police
Department mission
To create a community where every resident feels safe, respected and valued.
The challenges: Delivering exceptional service without a big-city budget
Advanced technology isn’t always affordable. Using the department’s limited budget well is vital for the Quincy Police Department. It needs to make the right decisions to get the most impact and empowerment for its officers with the available budget. “In the past, we didn’t have as much advanced equipment as other departments,” says Chief Hill. “When people would ask us why we didn’t, I’d have to say we couldn’t afford it.” But with some creative budgeting and a close partnership with Verizon, Chief Hill and his department found ways to adopt new solutions and technologies—strengthening the department’s capabilities without breaking the bank.
These solutions help us give our citizens better service. They can reach us whenever they need us. We can see what’s going on in the field, keeping them safe and protected. And by modernizing our equipment, we can attract new officers to join the department.
Chief Carlos Hill
Chief of Police, Quincy Police Department
The solution: Verizon Frontline and a committed local team
Verizon Frontline is a comprehensive program dedicated to meeting the needs of mission-critical communication and the collaboration needs of public safety agencies and first responders. Its wide, ever-expanding range of solutions include advanced networks, technologies and support systems that help first responders stay connected and improve their response capabilities. Verizon Frontline delivers reliable and robust communication, helping ensure that public safety officers and first responders have the tools they need to perform their critical duties effectively, even in the most challenging situations.
More than 40,000 public safety agencies rely on Verizon Frontline and its mission-critical solutions. Why? Because:
- Verizon Frontline is the #1 network choice in public safety1
- It’s built on America’s most reliable 5G network2, which gives users the speed and coverage they can rely on in routine and extreme situations.
- It prioritizes first responders,3 with an intelligent platform that provides prioritization and preemption on voice and data communications, so first responders can stay connected when it matters most.
Our cameras have helped us solve burglaries, homicides and other cases,” says Chief Hill, who appreciates the immediate insights these cameras provide. “With wireless connectivity, I can even pull up our cameras on my cell phone and monitor crowd movement or keep an eye on certain areas—so I can always see what’s going on.
Chief Carlos Hill
Chief of Police, Quincy Police Department
The benefits: An empowered department means safer citizens
The Verizon Frontline solutions that the Quincy Police Department rely on every day help meet the department’s core mission: “To create a community where every resident feels safe, respected and valued.” In its own way, each Verizon solution helps the department know more, see more and do more—which helps them respond more quickly and effectively in any situation.
Here are just some of the ways that Verizon Frontline benefits the Quincy Police Department—and the citizens of Quincy:
Wireless connectivity for all officers
Keeping on-duty officers connected is vital on blue sky days and even more important during emergencies. All Quincy officers are equipped with the Verizon One Talk application on their smartphones, which enables them to transition a call from the department office to the vehicle and beyond seamlessly, supplementing their handheld radios. One Talk keeps all officers connected and enables fast, reliable communication and collaboration under all conditions.
A reliable connection with citizens
Being able to contact the police department, anytime, is a critical need for any community. But this capability is even more important to communities in Florida, where hurricanes and other weather events are a fact of life, and the local police department is often the first line of defense.
In the past, loss of power in Quincy meant a communication breakdown between the police department and the citizens it protects. Hurricane Sally in September, 2020 proved to be the wake-up call that brought about much-needed change. “The storm knocked out power for our phones at the police station,” recalls Chief Hill. “Suddenly, we didn’t have any phone service at all, because our system was tied into the city’s phone service. Citizens couldn’t call us.” Hill contacted his Verizon Frontline representative, who quickly set the department up with Verizon Business LTE Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) One Talk solution. "Now, with this desk phone solution, we never lose connectivity during emergencies. Citizens can always reach us,” says Hill. “I can take my dispatch center and move it anywhere. All because of our smartphones.”
Constant connectivity for squad cars
In the past, some areas of Quincy posed connectivity issues, thanks to the region’s hilly terrain. To provide the constant, reliable connectivity that the Quincy Police Department needed when patrolling, it added Cradlepoint wireless routers for fixed wireless access, connected via the Verizon Wireless Business Internet solution, to many of its squad cars. The result? “Since we added those routers and wireless connectivity to the squad cars,” says Chief Hill, “they stay connected—anywhere, always.”
Fast access to critical data
When patrolling, Quincy’s officers need the ability to check for criminal records, run license places and access other vital data. “When I started with the department back in 2017, we didn’t have any tech in the car,” recalls Chief Hill. “Just a radio on our hip.” Now each squad car includes a ruggedized mobile data terminal (MDT) with reliable Verizon LTE connectivity. Officers can access the information they need during traffic stops or other situations—quickly and easily. In an era when fast access to the right data is mandatory, Quincy officers can be confident that they can get the data they need, when they need it—helping to ensure safety and protect lives.
Increased situational awareness
Though Quincy is a small city, its police officers can’t be everywhere at once. Fast, reliable Verizon connectivity provides the immediate, ongoing access to insights and information that helps the entire department stay informed. A wide range of solutions and devices make it happen. For example, dash cams and the latest Axon body cams keep Chief Hill and others connected to officers in the field, enabling a coordinated response to any situation. These devices even alert Chief Hill and others under certain conditions (e.g., if an officer draws his/her weapon). Traffic and pole-mounted cameras throughout the city provide updates about activity along roads and elsewhere. And license plate readers give even more detailed data.
This wealth of incoming visual data and alerts adds up to a clear picture of ever-evolving conditions—including possible criminal activity—throughout Quincy. With it, the department’s leaders can make better, smarter decisions about how to respond, protecting its officers and keeping its citizens safe. “Our cameras have helped us solve burglaries, homicides and other cases,” says Chief Hill, who appreciates the immediate insights these cameras provide. “With wireless connectivity, I can even pull up our cameras on my cell phone and monitor crowd movement or keep an eye on certain areas—so I can always see what’s going on.”
It definitely gives me peace of mind to know that Verizon Frontline’s Crisis Response Team is there to help us. I know all I have to do is ask Verizon for help and they’ll be here.
Chief Carlos Hill
Chief of Police, Quincy Police Department
Learn more
To find out more about Verizon Frontline and its full range of public safety solutions, contact Verizon at at verizon.com/publicsector.
1 Based on quarterly third-party wireless voice market share data, Q4 2024.
2 Based on RootMetrics® State of 5G Report, United States, 2H 2024. Tested with best commercially available smartphones on three national mobile networks across all available network types. Your experiences may vary. RootMetrics rankings are not an endorsement of Verizon.
3 Priority and Preemption services are available on the 4G LTE and 5G networks for eligible public safety users. Priority and Preemption services are not offered on the 5G Ultra Wideband network at this time. In the unlikely event that the 5G Ultra Wideband network is congested, eligible users automatically fall back to the 4G LTE network and their communications receive Priority and Preemption services.