Free resources
Guides & toolkits
Read a step-by-step guide, or put your own numbers into a free tool. Built for public safety leaders getting the right information to every member, buying and rolling out software, and keeping the people they worked hard to recruit.
Read
Step-by-step guides
Plain-language playbooks with the checklists built in.
The Internal Communications Playbook for Public Safety
A practical playbook for fire, EMS and police leaders: sort your messages, score your communications, cut channels, and confirm the important messages land.
10 min read · 7 steps
How to Buy Public Safety Software: A Practical Guide
A step-by-step guide for agencies buying public safety software: define the problem, run demos on your terms, vet the vendor, build total cost and test the exit.
11 min read · 10 steps
Shift Change Handoff Checklist
The handoff is when your agency is most exposed. Use this checklist and log template to make shift change consistent for fire, EMS and police crews.
7 min read · 6 steps
Implementing Public Safety Software: A Step-by-Step Guide
A signed contract doesn't guarantee a successful rollout. A practical guide to ownership, data, workflows, training, launch and adoption, with a checklist.
11 min read · 13 steps
The Policy Rollout Toolkit
How to earn buy-in before a change is announced and roll out policies, SOGs and protocols so fire, EMS and police personnel actually understand them.
9 min read · 6 steps
The First-Year Retention Toolkit
Most new members decide whether to stay long before they leave. A toolkit for the first 30 days, first-year check-ins, stay interviews and exit conversations.
10 min read · 5 stepsDo
Free interactive tools
Answer a few questions and see your results on screen.
Dashboard Content Planner
Build a plan for every station screen: what to show, where, and for whom.
Free · 3 to 5 minCost of the Status Quo
An ROI calculator: put a dollar figure on the time scattered information costs your department each year.
Free · 2 minAre You Overloaded?
Ten questions on how much information your crews and command staff are carrying.
Free · 3 minInternal Communications Health Check
Score your internal communications in six areas and see where to start.
Free · 7 minCommunication Channel Mapper
Match each kind of information to the channel that should carry it.
Free · 6 minSoftware Demo Question Builder
Walk into any vendor demo with the questions that matter to you.
Free · 4 minNew
Product updates
What’s new in First Arriving and how to put it to work.
Bring Your Own Data to Your First Arriving Dashboard
Push data through our API, send a CSV by email or SFTP, or bring your own homegrown dashboards, and see it all on the wall, the desktop and the phone.
5 min read
Why Digital Signage Needs Dedicated Hardware
A PC or a cast session behind the station TV needs babysitting. Dedicated signage hardware keeps the dashboard on screen, even after a power outage.
1 min read
Why Station Dashboards Work, and How We're Growing Them
It started as a way to welcome new members on a station TV. Nearly 1,500 agencies later, here is why dashboards work and where we are taking them next.
6 min readGet new guides in your inbox.
Practical guidance for public safety leaders, no spam.