Redundant 5G connectivity for a citywide police fleet

The Dallas Police Department uses Ericsson Enterprise Wireless Solutions to modernize its patrol fleet with 5G, build in carrier redundancy, and keep dispatch connected during critical incidents.

The Dallas Police Department protects one of the largest cities in the United States with approximately 3,200 officers and a fleet of about 1,200 patrol vehicles. For officers in the field, the squad car serves as a mobile office, where reliable connectivity supports computer-aided dispatch (CAD), in-car computers, dash and body cameras, real-time intelligence platforms, and other mission-critical applications. As the department's reliance on connected technology grew, its aging 4G infrastructure struggled to keep pace. Each vehicle relied on two SIM cards connected to the same wireless carrier, creating challenges around both performance and resiliency.

The first challenge was speed. Patrol vehicles generate large volumes of dash and body camera footage, and uploading that evidence over 4G could take significantly longer than the time it took to record. Following critical incidents, command staff need timely access to video for review and preparation for public release. In one instance, the officers followed a running squad car onto a flatbed tow truck and waited with it at the auto pound while the upload completed.

The second challenge was resiliency. Although each vehicle had two SIM cards, both relied on the same wireless carrier. If that network experienced an outage or congestion in a specific area, the vehicle could lose connectivity with no alternative path. For a department where reliable communications directly support officer safety and operational effectiveness, reducing that single point of failure became a priority.

Working with Ericsson Enterprise Wireless Solutions, the Dallas Police Department modernized its patrol fleet by upgrading from a single-carrier 4G environment to redundant 5G connectivity and adding a backup connectivity solution for its Real-Time Crime Center.

At the center of the deployment were Ericsson Cradlepoint dual-modem 5G routers, which replaced the department's legacy 4G equipment across the fleet. The upgrade provided the bandwidth and faster upload speeds needed to support increasingly data-intensive applications, helping critical video reach the cloud faster after it is recorded.

To strengthen resiliency, the department also diversified its wireless connectivity by using two first responder SIM cards to access separate wireless carriers. If one network experiences an outage or congestion, vehicles remain connected through the second, reducing dependence on a single provider and helping officers stay connected in the field.

The department also extended its resiliency strategy beyond the patrol fleet. While backup connectivity was already available for the citywide joint operations center, the Real-Time Crime Center required its own continuity plan.

The department deployed a mobile trailer equipped with Ericsson Cradlepoint routers and additional fiber connectivity to serve as a backup communications path. The solution provides the crime center with an additional layer of resilience, helping maintain operations when its primary internet connection is unavailable.

Ericsson NetCloud Manager provides the department’s team with visibility into connectivity performance across the fleet, including connection status, speeds, and SIM performance. This allows the team to identify potential issues, perform basic troubleshooting, and address problems before they require intervention from central IT.

The refresh was completed ahead of schedule, with the full fleet installed and tested. Since going live, the fleet has run without connectivity issues. The faster 5G connection is ready for the next critical incident, the carrier redundancy protects officers when one network struggles, and the failover trailer gives the Real-Time Crime Center a backup that ideally never has to be used.

Faster critical video

5G upload speeds are in place to move dash and body camera footage to the cloud sooner after a critical incident.

Built-in redundancy

Two first responder SIM cards on separate carriers keeps vehicles online when one network fails or gets congested.

Failover for the crime center

A trailer with Ericsson Cradlepoint routers gives the Real-Time Crime Center a connectivity backup if the building goes dark.

Less to troubleshoot

When the routers just work, there are no connectivity issues to chase down and no extra coordination to get squad cars fixed.

The department sees room to push the model further. It is looking at satellite connectivity as a third layer of redundancy, so a vehicle that loses both carrier networks in an area can still fall back to satellite. The goal is the same that drove the refresh: never leave an officer in the field without a way to connect.