Grants Will Boost Interoperability Policy
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Interoperability News Clips July 21, 2006 – August 4, 2006 Table of Contents July 21 – August 4, 2006 Problems With DPS Communications System........................................................... 2 Houses Passes Bill Aimed at Improving Emergency Radio Communications........... 3 Grants will boost interoperability policy .................................................................... 4 House OKs first-responder emergency net................................................................. 5 House passes emergency-communications bill .......................................................... 7 Emergency Communications Bill Includes Amateur Radio as Interoperability Agent ..................................................................................................................................... 8 Statewide emergency radio system faces obstacles.................................................. 10 Greene County Commissioners meet........................................................................ 14 U.S. Coast Guard Activates Rescue 21 System in Gulf States................................. 16 Bush visits Lake........................................................................................................ 17 Unified St. Tammany Parish Meets with Governor.................................................. 20 Our Cities Are Not Prepared for Disaster................................................................. 22 1 Problems With DPS Communications System July 21, 2006 KLTV By Karolyn Davis, Reporter URL: http://www.kltv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5182789&nav=menu117_3_3_5 This week's trial of the man who shot a DPS Trooper shined a light on a communication problem... actually two communication problems for local DPS officers. "After they leave and you (Trooper Stone) are on your mic initially you calling for Tyler I've been shot help help. Where is that going?" says Matt Bingham, District Attorney of Smith County during trial. "It goes back to the main communications system but honestly on that particular night because the radios are so poor and often we cannot transmit, on that particular night I actually did not have that with me," says Trooper Steven Stone during trial. Trooper Stone, shot multiple times, lay in the ditch that night. He had to crawl back to his car to call for help. Who knows what may have happened if he hadn't been able to. "Depending on where they might be working they can have interference or static as anything else which is why they have their car radio, of course, as the primary," says Trooper Jeanne Dark, DPS spokeswoman. And there's another problem. "Is DPS and the Smith County Sheriffs office and Tyler Police Department able to communicate via radio?" says Matt Bingham, District Attorney with Smith County during trial. "No sir. Smith County Sheriffs Department and Tyler PD are both on different radio systems," says Trooper Steven Stone during trial. The Sheriff's department and the Police Department are on the same radio system. They have been for more than 10 years. "We are able to communicate now to 30 different city department, we can talk to the sheriff's department , TISD and TJC police," says Sergeant Darin Grissom, Communications with Tyler Police Department. Even as agencies responded to help Trooper Stone, Smith County Sheriff's Department and Tyler Police could talk to one another but not with DPS via radio. 2 "It would be helpful to have a channel that all of the agencies can communicate with each other," says Trooper Jeanne Dark, DPS spokeswoman. "It would enhance our safety and the safety of our highway patrolmen to know what is going on instead of waiting on our dispatch to relay information to their dispatch to relay to them. It's all about safety," says Sergeant Darin Grissom, Communications with Tyler Police Department. Trooper Dark says at this time DPS does not have plans to replace their hand held radios or have a system to be able to communicate with the sheriff and police departments. ### Houses Passes Bill Aimed at Improving Emergency Radio Communications Congressional Quarterly By Patrick Yoest URL: www.cq.com The House overwhelmingly passed a bill Tuesday that would create an emergency communications office at the Homeland Security Department in an attempt to quicken efforts to improve radio interoperability for first-responders. Passed by a 414-2 vote, the bill (HR 5852) would create an assistant secretary for emergency communications to head the new office. The bill would give the department secretary power to deny the use of homeland security grants for interoperability efforts if state and local first-responders do not submit proper plans or do not meet voluntary equipment standards. The bill targets the communication problems of first-responders, which hampered response efforts after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina. During both of those disasters, police, fire and emergency medical units communicated on different radio frequencies. Although the bill enjoyed bipartisan support Tuesday, some Democrats warned that Congress would eventually have to give state and local agencies more funds to purchase interoperable equipment. The bill authorizes no new funds for interoperability efforts at the department. “All our efforts here today will be for naught if we do not provide funding for the development and deployment of a nationwide emergency communications system,” said 3 Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the Homeland Security Committee’s ranking Democrat. ‘A Lot of Frustration’ Dave Reichert, R-Wash., a former sheriff who sponsored the emergency communications bill, agrees that more funding is necessary. But he said that the Homeland Security Department already has $1.7 billion available for interoperability grants, and that the department has spent $2.1 billion in the past two years to develop interoperable communications. “We can throw all the money we want at this, but until the states have comprehensive plans in place and equipment standards have been developed, we will not be able to solve this problem,” Reichert said. A deficit reduction measure signed into law in February (PL 109-171) created an interoperability grant program with up to $1 billion raised from an analog spectrum auction. But the Commerce Department has the authority to dispense those funds, which Reichert’s emergency communications bill would not change. A Reichert proposal to overhaul the Federal Emergency Management Agency (HR 5351) would shift the funds to the Homeland Security Department, but the Energy and Commerce Committee opposes that move, according to Reichert. “A lot of frustration here, I believe, is that those monies should be brought together, so that the right hand knows what the left hand is doing,” Reichert said. The emergency communications bill also would create regional emergency communications working groups, as well as a federal Emergency Communications Preparedness Center. The federal group would include the heads of the Homeland Security Department and four other federal agencies. The Senate will mark up a bill (S 3721) Thursday that would enact a host of emergency response overhauls, including the creation of a new emergency communications office. ### Grants will boost interoperability policy July 25, 2006 United Press International URL: http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20060725-113833- 6585r WASHINGTON, July 25 (UPI) -- Five states will get U.S. grants to improve their policy co-ordination on interoperable communications for first responders and other agencies. 4 The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the SAFECOM program, the communications program of the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement Tuesday that Alabama, Indiana, Minnesota, Montana and Washington would get $50,000 each "to support governors and other state and local policymakers in developing state-wide interoperability plans for wireless communications." The planning projects funded by the grants are to be completed by July 2007. Wireless interoperability allows different responder agencies and government jurisdictions to exchange information as needed, even when each is using different communications or computer systems. Reviews of the response to Hurricane Katrina "highlighted the continued lack of communications interoperability at the state and local levels," said the statement. "In many cases, communications between response teams that include fire, police and other public safety agencies is impaired by incompatible communications equipment and/or systems." The grants will fund a so-called policy academy in which statewide teams of officials will meet to thrash out issues which may be holding up the implementation of interoperability and get what the statement calls "customized technical assistance." ### House OKs first-responder emergency net July 26, 2006 NorthJersey.com By Brian Spadora URL: http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkyNCZmZ 2JlbDdmN3ZxZWVFRXl5Njk2Njc2MSZ5cmlyeTdmNzE3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTI= The House of Representatives on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a bill aimed at making it easier for first responders to communicate during an emergency. The legislation would improve "interoperability," or communications among different kinds of emergency services -- including police, fire and EMTs -- as well as across levels of government, from local to federal, supporters of the bill said. The legislation was spurred in part by the Sept. 11 terror attacks, when the inability of