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State of the Market '26 Report

MAPS®: The Model for Advancing Public Safety

Based on hundreds of completed MAPS® assessments and industry expertise.

State of Today’s Public Safety Organizations:
2026 Insights

The fourth edition report produced by Mission Critical Partners summarizes where hundreds of state and local public safety organizations stand regarding nine critical aspects of public-safety operations.

The 2026 State of the Market report is based on hundreds of assessments we’ve completed of the public-safety environment. These insights can prepare public safety leaders to make changes that will improve their organization and the industry.

See how the industry fared and where the most significant areas of weakness are in the 2026 State of the Industry report.

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Our Methodology 

MCP’s Model for Advancing Public Safety® (MAPS®) is a proprietary assessment methodology developed by MCP for determining where an organization stands regarding numerous critical factors. MAPS is based on:

  • Industry standards developed by organizations such as the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Task Force on Optimal Public Safety Answering Point Architecture (TFOPA), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Emergency Number Association (NENA), and the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International (APCO)

  • Formalized accreditation programs

  • Best practices

  • MCP’s collective expertise 

The fourth edition report includes data from assessments completed by MCP since August 2022.

Explore the 2026 Report

Key findings across trending topics

CHAPTER 01

Land Mobile Radio: Ensuring Reliable Public-Safety Communications

CHAPTER 02

GIS Mapping for Public Safety

CHAPTER 03

Next Generation 911 (NG911)

CHAPTER 04

Understanding ECC Operations: Modern Challenges and Innovations

CHAPTER 05

Understanding Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) for Public Safety

CHAPTER 06

Workforce Optimization
for ECCs

CHAPTER 07

Modernizing Emergency Management for Public Safety

CHAPTER 08

AI for Public Safety Staffing

CHAPTER 09

Public Safety Technology: Current Trends and Future Outlook