D Block auction sheds police, fire support

The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) and the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) have stopped lobbying for a proposal to ask first responders to share a valuable chunk of airwaves with commercial providers. Both organizations had bucked the public safety community last year by supporting a proposal to auction off the D Block of spectrum to fund an emergency broadband network, rather than directly allocating this block to emergency groups. After the Obama Administration backed reallocation last week, a reversal came from these two key groups who had underpinned auction proponents' claims that the public safety community supported their view.