[Scan-DC] PSWN In Money Trouble as 2nd APCO Boss Resigns In Less Than A Year

[Marcelrf@bellsouth.net]

PSWN In Money Trouble as 2nd APCO Boss Resigns In Less Than A Year

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Two wireless emergency services groups find themselves
with significant management issues today.

A White House wireless public safety organization may meet its demise in July as
an apparent battle over funding ties up half of the program's money, while
another wireless emergency service organization's executive director has resigned.

John Ramsay, executive director at the APCO (Association of Public-Safety
Communication Officials (APCO), has resigned. His resignation follows the
departure of APCO president Thera Bradshaw in March.

The White House organization--The Public Safety Wireless Network (PSWN), a
program set up in 1996 to help coordinate and improve public safety wireless
communications, apparently lost $7.5 million of its $10.7 million budget to some
mysterious editing of the Fiscal Year 2004 government budget. That budget,
drawn up in February and passed recently, specifically excluded the PSWN
program, say sources. For some reason, the Department of Justice funding
mechanism drawn up in the appropriations bill specifically excluded the PSWN
program. Justice was told to find funding for it elsewhere, which would prove
problematic for continuing PSWN programs uninterrupted, those close to the
program say.

The budget is typically split between Justice and the U.S. Treasury. The money
provides funds for studies on public safety communications, legal work and public
information facilities like the organization's two web sites.

http://www.wirelessweek.com/index.asp?layout=newsat2direct&starting=1&pubdate=05/20/03