Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Funds sought to put cops, firefighters on same wavelength

From: NEXTEL-1
Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2004 01:21:43 -0400

Funds sought to put cops, firefighters on same wavelength
Members of Congress want $2M from government for common 'wireless
network' for rescue operations
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
By TERENCE J. KIVLAN

WASHINGTON -- New York City's congressional delegation has mounted a
push for $2 million in federal funds to help develop a common emergency
communication system for cops and firefighters.

The need for such a system was dramatized during the rescue effort at
the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, when perhaps 120 firefighters
died in the collapse of Tower 2 because they did not hear a warning from
a police helicopter that the building was on the verge of
disintegration.

The lawmakers, including Rep. Vito Fossella (R-Staten
Island/Brooklyn), requested
the $2 million in a letter
yesterday to the House
Appropriations Committee,
saying the money would be
used to pay for a pilot
program to develop an
"interoperable wireless
network" for police and fire
departments in New York
and other cities.

"The city and other municipalities are at a crossroads," the letter
said. "Preliminary feedback from industry experts indicates that this
project will help usher in a new generation of wireless public sector
communications."

The project was launched in March when the city Department of
Intelligence and Telecommunications put out a request for proposals
(RFP), asking wireless companies to submit plans for the network.

Police and firefighters in the city and elsewhere in the country
currently broadcast on different frequencies.
The RFP called for a system enabling the two groups to talk to each
other as well as exchange videos and real-time pictures of emergency
situations. In addition, the city requirements called for centralized
tracking of emergency vehicles through a common, computerized dispatch
system, and a network of wireless call boxes for use by the public to
summon help.
In the pilot phase of the project, one or more of the vendors will be
selected to demonstrate their systems.

The new technology produced by the program will be nonproprietary and
available to other cities and local governments.
The inability of cops and firefighters to communicate at Ground Zero was
a major topic of discussion when the federal commission investigating
the events of Sept. 11 held a hearing last month in New York City.

Under questioning from commissioners, former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani
explained that a lack of interoperable technology had prevented the city
from providing the two departments with a common communication system.

But a former director of the Office of Emergency Management, Jerome
Hauer, later testified that the city had supplied the cops and
firefighters with radios permitting them to communicate but that the
departments did not want to share a common frequency.

"It is not just a radio [problem], it is culture," said Hauer, adding
that the departments still do not have a joint command post.
Other city officials, however, have said the radios cited by Hauer had
serious flaws, including an inability in some circumstances to receive
calls from first responders in need of help.

Terence J. Kivlan is the Washington correspondent for the Advance.
He may be reached at [email-masked].
http://www.silive.com/news/advance/index.ssf?/base/news/108799845233750.xml

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