Industry Action Group

NSA launched the COVID-19 Industry Action Group on April 14, 2020 to organize private and nonprofit sectors to assist law enforcement and first responders in need of PPE. Results, so far:

• An NSA and REFORM Alliance partnership has sent more than 1.6 million free surgical masks to more than 1,500 counties in 43 states across the country.
  • NSA and REFORM Alliance launched a formal partnership in May. The effort received the generous support of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, whose #startsmall initiative contributed $10 million to REFORM’s PPE project.
  • “Once COVID-19 infects our facilities, it takes off like a wildfire. This innovative collaboration helps make our jails safer during the international pandemic,” NSA President and Dane County (WI) Sheriff Dave Mahoney said.
• An NSA partnership with Motorola, SwabTek and Under Armour sent an additional 207,000 free masks to 709 sheriff’s offices.
• A “Buy One, Give One” program with SwabTek also resulted in just under 2,000 free masks donated to 28 different sheriff’s offices so far. The program is ongoing: www.sheriffs.org/coronavirus/bogo.
• Home Depot and Kimble’s Food donated over 1,000 masks, collectively, with the assistance of the Industry Action Group.
• NSA’s Industry Action Group supported donations from Kimble’s Food for 2,000 pairs of gloves to sheriffs in South Carolina and food to seven jails and sheriff’s offices in South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama.
• Treasury agreed to NSA’s request to make CARES Act funds available to reimburse wages, equipment and services for law enforcement activities tied to COVID response.
• Department of Labor issued a rule clarifying overtime by law enforcement during COVID response.

COVID-19 remains a significant threat to incarcerated individuals, law enforcement, correctional staff, and the communities in which we live. NSA is committed to stopping the spread and saving lives. Please contact NSA’s Lindsay Hopkins at with PPE donations at lhopkins@sheriffs.org.

Individual Company/Organization Contributions and Resources

• Amazon Web Services:
  • Amazon Connect cloud call center that can be stood up in minutes to help to engage the public:
    • https://aws.amazon.com/connect/
    • https://aws.amazon.com/solutions/case-studies/la-county/ (LA County Case Study on Amazon contact center)
  • Resources to enable virtual employees and working from home:
    • https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/working-from-home-heres-how-aws-can-help/  
    • https://aws.amazon.com/workspaces/   Remote work-from-home solution. There is a free trial version during the crisis, and it’s available in GovCloud so it meets the CJIS Security Policy. 
    • https://aws.amazon.com/appstream2/  Securely deliver desktop applications to any computer (Work From Home)
    • https://aws.amazon.com/remote-work-learning/    Remote learning resources available. 
  • Here are some general public safety resources to show what work we are already doing with Law Enforcement – including information around how AWS enables you to build for mission-critical high availability:S
    • https://aws.amazon.com/stateandlocal/justice-and-public-safety/
    • https://aws.amazon.com/compliance/cjis/   AWS CJIS Compliance information.
    • https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/publicsector/achieving-five-nines-cloud-justice-public-safety/
  • AWS’ Covid-19 Blog
• Axon: 
  • The Axon team has sourced supplies to help protect first responders and staff from COVID-19. They have blue surgical masks, hand sanitizer, and powder-free latex gloves. To order at no cost, please have someone from your agency fill out this very short form. 
  • You do not need to be an Axon customer. This is available at no-cost to all public safety agencies. 
• FirstNet:
  • ​Public Safety’s Network Supports COVID-19 Emergency Response
• LEO Technologies: 
  • LEO Technologies is working with NSA to offer a 90-day trial of their inmate phone monitoring system, Verus, for qualified agencies to support pandemic-related mitigation efforts in their facilities.  
  • Verus is an AI-based technology developed on the AWS platform which automatically transcribes, monitors and flags inmate phone calls. The system uses machine learning and automated speech recognition to identify specific conversations based on keywords. Transcriptions can be searched by keywords or other data. The system automatically translates Spanish transcriptions into English.
  • Agencies interested in participating should visit LEO Technologies to request a demo and find out more about the Verus trial.
• Mark 43:
  • Mark43 is currently donating one year of their Pandemic Preparedness Package to any U.S. public safety agency that is interested. This is a software package that includes two reports and a data dashboard, which allow departments to track potential COVID-19 exposures, log updates, and assess the impact on their workforce. Any interested agency can read more and submit an inquiry here: https://www.mark43.com/pandemicpackage/  Additionally, they also have a press release on their website
• Marriott:
  • Have established a “Community Caregiver Rate” at participating hotels across the U.S. to host first responders who are working around the clock to save lives. Valid ID is required for check-in.
• Motorola:
  • ​COVID Guidelines: How to clean your radios
  • COVID Motorola Solutions Resource Page
• Work Flow:
  • FDA Approved 3-PLY masks for sale for Law Enforcement

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