Subject: [NEXTEL-1] First responder report due in spring

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2004 01:00:50 -0500

First responder report due in spring
BY Dibya Sarkar
Jan. 26, 2004

By early spring, the federal government hopes to release a sweeping document
that catalogs the priorities of first responders based on various national
reports and surveys that have been published previously.

"We solicited information from them to identify reports that we had not found
and insight into what is most useful in a final report," said Richard Jacques, a
senior program manager with the National Institute of Justice, adding that
facilitating communications interoperability was "at the forefront of the minds"
of most survey participants.

The final report, he said, is anticipated to provide a complete inventory of
first responder needs based on analysis of after-action reports and existing
surveys and reports, a basis for the development of new technology, and a
document to help state and local agencies procure technology and equipment for
first responders.

About 17 representatives from the federal government and various national
associations met last fall in Arlington, Va. for a 1½-hour informational session
for the initiative called the National First Responders Technology Need
Assessment. A draft report has been sent out to the participants, said Jacques,
with the final publication intended for late March or early April.

Joel Leson, special assistant to the executive director of the International
Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), said the gist of the assessment is to
ensure that first responders identify requirements for industry and that they
meet federal safety and other types of standards.

"The last thing we want to see is money poorly spent," said Leson, who
represents the IACP in the initiative. "As a fellow taxpayer, we want to make
sure what’s purchased is what’s needed and not sent down a rabbit hole."

Neal Pollard, a senior director with Hicks and Associates Inc., which is
spearheading a first responder needs assessment project for the National
Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism and Terrorism Research Center
(MIPT), said there are communications and cultural gaps between practitioners,
technologists and researchers who develop first responder equipment and
technologies.

"And this is something the Defense Department had for a long time," he said.
"The warfighters didn’t necessarily know what the services were developing [and]
the services didn’t necessarily know what the warfighters needed. And we
recognized the same gap exists -- that the technologists don’t know what the
responders need, the responders don’t know what the labs are putting out beyond
the near term."

Information from the NIJ project will be provided to MIPT, an Oklahoma-based
nonprofit organization formed after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, to
supplement its own first responder project.

The participating associations include the IACP, National Association of
Counties, the International City/County Management Association, U.S. Conference
of Mayors, the Police Executive Research Forum, the National Governors
Association, the National Association of County and City Health Officials, the
National Sheriffs Association and the National Association of Fire Chiefs.
Participants from NIJ, Office for Domestic Preparedness, and the Space and Air
Naval Warfare Systems Command represented the federal government.

http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/0126/web-firstresponder-01-26-04.asp

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