ARTICLE
Fall | 2026
Helping keep a North Carolina community safe
FirstNet®, Built with AT&T
Fall | 2026
The Town of Duck, North Carolina, is a thriving coastal destination with one of America’s top family-friendly beaches. It’s home to fewer than 1,000 year-round residents, but the population swells to 35,000 during the summer.
Keeping the peace in a town with tens of thousands of visitors is not without its challenges. “Whatever we did the previous seven days is unknown to the new people coming in. It’s a totally new population every week, so you can’t use traditional tactics and techniques,” said Duck Police Chief Jeffrey Ackerman.
Staying on top of law enforcement technology presents another challenge. Ackerman’s predecessor, Chief John Cueto, was an early adopter of FirstNet, a nationwide broadband network designed and built for first responders. FirstNet provides law enforcement, fire department, and emergency medical services (EMS) personnel with priority network access for voice, data, video, and location services.
Rapid response in an emergency
Now five years into his tenure, Ackerman continues to find new uses for FirstNet. In an area vulnerable to natural disasters, that’s a critical benefit.
After a recent hurricane devastated the area, Ackerman sent officers to assist communities that had suffered significant damage, including the loss of communication. “It is a little unnerving to send people away to a place with no cell service and no landlines,” he said. “But our vehicles have FirstNet Cradlepoint routers in them, so I was able to know where our officers were at all times.”
The routers were a blessing because two-way radios inside the police cruisers didn’t work. “There was no tower standing, no generators, no nothing,” Ackerman said. “So all our investment in something that was supposed to be there for natural disasters was completely useless. But FirstNet worked.”
Duck officers also deployed FirstNet Satellite Cells on Light Trucks (SatCOLTs). SatCOLTs are mobile cell sites that connect via satellite and do not rely on a commercial power supply.
“They were able to call in, so we knew they were okay and arrived safely. Knowing they’re okay was huge for me,” said Ackerman. “And then, more importantly, for them to be able to get in touch with their families and let them know they were okay.”
Overcoming communication challenges
FirstNet connectivity helps Duck in other ways, such as traffic management. Sixty percent of cars in Duck travel a two-lane road that was designed for half the volume it now carries. Widening the road or adding bridges would be cost-prohibitive and would destroy the small-town atmosphere of the community.
“The best solution we could come up with is to have live traffic cameras throughout town, so people can see where the hot spots are,” Ackerman said. “All of that is run through FirstNet because we’re still a pretty rural community. We don’t have robust broadband or cable internet.”
A city council member, who was also an electrician, installed the necessary electrical lines, and officers built a control cabinet. “We integrated a FirstNet router into that and ran Ethernet cable. So every time we’ve come up with a communication challenge, FirstNet has had something that fits in that box to make it work, and it does so in an affordable way.”
More than just a cell phone
Aside from the real-world benefits, Ackerman is pleased with the responsiveness of the FirstNet team. “There has never been a time when I didn’t get an answer when I called or texted,” he said. “That’s what we take away from FirstNet. I receive calls frequently from other carriers attempting to sell their version of FirstNet. And it’s fun for me now because I start quizzing them on all the things that they provide, and they don’t provide any of what FirstNet provides.”
In a small town like Duck, technology purchases have to be weighed carefully against budget limitations. “A lot of the things we want to do get shut down for funding reasons. It doesn’t mean we won’t keep trying,” Ackerman said. “We’ve learned a lot about FirstNet, how much more it is than just a cell phone, and you want more and more of that. If we have a catastrophic hurricane, we’re going to need these things.”
