Subject: [NEXTEL-1] On the same wavelength

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 20 Apr 2003 14:32:30 -0400

The Star - Tribune

On the same wavelength

By JOAN BARRON Star-Tribune capital bureau

CHEYENNE -- If a police officer at point A cannot communicate with a firefighter at point
B in the middle of a major
emergency like a terrorism attack, the state has a problem.

Although that scenario is unlikely at least in the larger cities in the state, other state
and federal public safety agencies are not
on the same wave length.

The first phase of a study to devise a plan for a statewide communications system to link
the various public safety agencies is
due April 22.

The statewide "Public Safety Mobile Communications Plan" (PSMC) being developed by a
consultant firm, Federal
Engineering , is due by October, 2003.

The assessment of public safety radio improvements began after the 9/11 terrorism attacks
in keeping with the intense focus
on homeland security.

Kelly Hamilton, a cochair of the steering committee for the Public Safety Mobile
Communications Project said the issue is
"interoperability" -- a system that will allow agencies to talk to each other when the
need arises.

Hamilton, a law enforcement administrator with the Wyoming Livestock Board, is also
chairman of the State Agency Law
Enforcement Communications System Commission (SALECS).

The other co-chair of the steering committee, which includes representatives of 13
agencies, is Bob Wyatt, who works for
the Department of Transportation, and who also chairs the Wyoming Telecommunications
Council.

Hamilton said that people expect the highway patrol, sheriff, police and fire fighters to
be able to talk to each other. But in
case of a large rangeland wildfire, the agencies also need to communicate with the state
forester, federal agencies and cities
and towns to move fire trucks.to the site of the blaze. If livestock are in the fire's
path, then brand inspectors and other law
enforcement agencies become involved, he said.

"Radio systems are so very, very expensive for cities and counties to do on their own,"
Hamilton said in an interview
Tuesday. "There's also is a lot of new technology available."

"We can get more if we pool our resources and we have the ability to talk to one another
in a hazmat situation, a wildfire, a
high speed chase or a bioterrorism or agra-terrorism event," Hamilton added, referring to
hazardous materials spills and
other emergency situations.

"That's part of this project, if we come up with a plan and a project we have to find a
way to fund it," he added.

The timetable calls for the steering committee to recommend a plan and a source of money
for the 2004 legislative session.

Hamilton, who attended a homeland security summit in Washington, D.C. a couple of months
ago, said there is substantial
grant money available for this type of project.

Meanwhile, a company that manufacturers radio systems for public safety communications
systems that solve the
interoperability problem, put on a demonstration Monday for first responder public safety
agencies.

In a van outside the Wyoming Emergency Management Agency in Cheyenne, M/A COM, Inc., a
business unit of Tyco
Electronics, was on a multi-city tour to demonstrate the system called NetworkFirst., a
system that uses Internet Protocol
(IP) technology to enable fully interoperable communications.

The state is not endorsing the system, said Kelly Ruiz, public affairs officer for
emergency management and homeland
security, and is just looking at options at this point.

Last week Gov. Dave Freudenthal said estimated costs of a statewide system ranged from $26
million to $75 million.

Robert Wilson of the Wyoming Department of Transportation and PSMC project manager said
that South Dakota spent
$26 million on its statewide system, primarily with grant dollars.

Wilson said that after the steering committee gets the consultants' report that is due
April 22, the state will go to industry for
requests for information on the technology needed and estimated costs.

He said his agency has congestion problems -- too many people are trying to use the same
frequency using some very old
equipment. Federal Communications Commission changes have made it difficult to continue to
use the same frequency, he
said.

He noted that the City of Casper went to an 800 megahertz solution and Cheyenne probably
will, too. The highway patrol,
meanwhile, still operates at 150 megahertz.

"It's like the difference between your AM radio and your FM radio. The two can't talk,"
Wilson said. "It's a big problem and
getting worse unless we get a state plan."

http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2003/04/05/news/wyoming/72db9e961c545a180f58d18efa13e9ec.txt

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