[Scan-DC] District to link all responders over radio

[Alan Henney]

http://www.examiner.com/a-547737~District_to_link_all_responders_over_radio.html

Local
District to link all responders over radio
Michael Neibauer, The Examiner
Feb 5, 2007 3:00 AM (19 hrs ago)
Current rank: # 10,785 of 13,606 articles

WASHINGTON - Two dozen District government agencies outside police and
fire still can’t coordinate over the city’s public safety radio
network more than five years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.


But the D.C. Unified Communications Center has prepared an upgrade
under a recently awarded one-year, $199,960 contract with D.C.-based
consultant Telecommunications Development Corp. The deal calls for the
development of an intra-District interoperability plan for 23 agencies
within D.C. currently using the 800 MHz Radio Network.

“This effort will permit agencies that would not normally have the
ability to communicate with one another the means to do so with the
implementation of this project,” UCC spokeswoman Debbie Know said.

The government is pleased with its current emergency radio system, but
it does have deficiencies, Knox said. Secondary responders were never
linked, she said, leaving those agencies with no direct capability to
communicate with members of the perspective communities, dispatch or
local support staff via the 800 MHz radio network.

The D.C. Department of Health, for example, a vital agency in the case
of a bioterrorism attack or virus outbreak, can communicate with RFK
Stadium security, the Emergency Management Agency and the D.C.
Department of Transportation. But it can’t talk to police or fire over
the existing network, Knox said.

“Communications is one of the biggest issues and problems with
emergency response, particularly for something on the magnitude of a
9/11,” said D.C. Council Member Phil Mendelson, chair of the judiciary
committee. “So this would be part of a comprehensive effort to improve
the ability of all responding agencies to talk to each other.”

The District’s first responders seamlessly communicate with each other
and others in the National Capital Region through the Motorola
SmartZone 800 MHz network. The NCR was recently given high marks for
its interoperable communication technology and operating procedures in
a U.S. Department of Homeland Security scorecard.

mneibauer at dcexaminer.com

Examiner