Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Crisis communication network comes up short

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 20 Apr 2003 15:15:56 -0400

Posted on Thu, Mar. 27, 2003

Crisis communication network comes up short
By Susan Schrock and Deanna Boyd
Star-Telegram Staff Writers

Firefighters, police officers and other first responders would not be
able to quickly communicate with any agency outside their own
during a disaster such as a terrorist attack, government officials say.

That is North Texas' No. 1 weakness in anti-terrorism planning, the
officials said.

"If something happened in Dallas, Fort Worth may or may not know
about it because of the inability to communicate agency to agency,"
said Fred Keithley, director of community services for the North
Central Texas Council of Governments.

The problems here mirror communication-systems shortfalls for law
enforcement and emergency medical agencies across the country,
council of governments officials said. President Bush has said that
better coordination among agencies is a priority, and he has called
for making communications systems compatible nationwide.

Solutions may be years away, though, delayed by funding
shortages and the need to pass new laws and improve technology.
Implementing a regional system to ensure shared communication
will take time and lots of money, Keithley said.

Estimates of the cost of a regional system in North Texas alone are
$500 million and up, he said. Estimates for a nationally compatible
system have been in the tens of billions.

Texas is to receive a $29.5 million grant from the Department of
Homeland Security this year, but it will be used to pay for a number
of anti-terrorism measures, including disaster-simulation exercises
and training.

Distribution of the grant will be guided by strategic plans presented
to Gov. Rick Perry by the state's 24 councils of governments last
August. The plans, part of a statewide terrorism-preparedness
assessment, outline how regions would address training, planning
and equipment needs.

For North Central Texas, the plan highlighted not only the need for
an interagency communication system, but also for formal regional
and statewide mutual-aid agreements and nuclear, chemical and
biological weapons training for first responders, said Gregg Dawson,
director of emergency-preparedness programs for the council of
governments.

"We know what the real issues are, and we are going to spend our
money wisely to address those needs," he said.

At least 80 percent of the state grant is designated to help local
jurisdictions buy response equipment.

The state could receive some other funds from the $25 million that
the Department of Homeland Security has earmarked for what local
jurisdictions say is one of their top priorities: buying radio
equipment to improve interagency communication. That money
comes from $600 million the federal department made available this
month to help state and local emergency workers nationwide
prepare for possible terrorist attacks.

If a disaster were to hit the Metroplex today, officials said, agencies
would have to use systems in place, with assistance from ham radio
operators.

The ham radio operators relay messages between police and
firefighters, help keep track of injured people, and track weather
and traffic conditions, said Harold Reasoner of the Tarrant County
Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service. Reasoner is the liaison
between the amateur radio group and Fort Worth's emergency
management office.

The Tarrant County group, which has more than 450 members, can
contact operators within a 75-mile radius on a local radio band, he
said.

Beyond that, typically the public safety agency that receives the
initial call has to pick up a phone and call other agencies. A
dispatcher could put out a radio message, but not all pertinent
agencies have the same radio access.

In February 2002, Fort Worth Mayor Kenneth Barr and then-acting
Dallas Mayor Mary Poss said at a meeting of politicians, firefighters,
police officers and doctors that the region must have a system to
coordinate responses to emergencies. The meeting led to the
creation of the regional Emergency Preparedness Department.

As a result, the region has an arrangement that details things such
as which agencies need to be contacted, which would respond
where, and which hospitals and environmental units would be
involved in the response.

"I think it boils down to when a calamity occurs, knowing the people
that are in place, knowing the capabilities of different government
entities to respond, is vital," Barr said.

The arrangement involves local, state and federal agencies over
public safety, emergency management, public health, public works,
environmental, information technologies and the Dallas-Fort Worth
Hospital Council, said Keithley of the council of governments.

"That's pretty solid when you look at it," he said. "Without that,
you're going to have this fragmented approach where you call and
say 'We've got this problem here. Who's going to come?' "

But the cooperative agreement doesn't solve the problem of getting
word of a disaster or a terrorist attack to multiple agencies.

One solution to the communication problem could be to give local,
state and federal officials top priority on cellphone usage during
emergencies by allowing them to bypass congested cell networks
with a special access code.

At present, cellphones and pagers are considered unreliable
because networks would be swamped during a disaster.
Immediately after 9-11, for example, only one in 20 cellphone calls
placed in New York got through because the cellular networks were
overloaded.

In 2002, the National Communications Systems began pilot wireless
priority services in New York and Washington.

And the Federal Communications Commission is allocating a special
cellular bandwidth for the exclusive use of public safety officers.
Public safety groups laud the move, but the dedicated disaster
bandwidth is going to be phased in over the next five years and is
useless in the short run.

Dallas/Fort Worth Airport has told lobbyists that its top state
agenda is to get legislation passed that would provide cellphone
priority access to public safety and emergency management
personnel during disasters.

Since 9-11, state and federal authorities have taken steps to
improve emergency communication with local jurisdictions.

On high alert since March 17, the State Operations Center at the
Texas Department of Public Safety in Austin has sent frequent
updates daily to emergency-management coordinators, mayors and
county judges statewide, said William Ayres, a spokesman for the
state's Division of Emergency Management.

The state's public safety and homeland security-related
departments are operated under the center and notify local
agencies about threats to Texas, he said.

Closer working relationships have also aided communications. Libby
Watson, Fort Worth assistant city manager, said she believes it
helps that police officers are assigned to various FBI task forces.

"I think we feel fairly comfortable," she said. "We have
representatives on the FBI terrorism task force. That communication
is daily. It's real time because we have personnel assigned there."

Some cities are also addressing communication problems on their
own.

The Dallas fire and police departments have established a radio
channel that allows the two departments to communicate and hope
to establish a $200,000 system that would allow them to
communicate with other departments.

"It's nowhere near the level I want it to be," Assistant Fire Chief
Roland Gamez said. "Really to build the infrastructure of the whole
communications system, it's getting into the millions of dollars. That
$200,000 would not be full-scale."

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http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/local/5493605.htm

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