Subject: [NEXTEL-1] OK Statewide radio network lacks funds

From: NEXTEL-1
Date: Sun, 04 Jul 2004 14:13:40 -0400

OK Statewide radio network lacks funds
Date: Saturday, June 26 @ 18:06:32 EDT
 Topic: Misc

Statewide radio network lacks funds
By Michael Baker -- The Oklahoman

The state Office of Homeland Security has $16 million to start piecing
together a radio system that will allow emergency responders to talk to
each other anywhere in the state.  The money on hand is only a fraction
of what is needed, but it's a start to fixing flaws and helping to save
lives, public safety officials said.

The hope is that future federal grants can be obtained to finish the
estimated $80 million communications system, which legislators have not
funded for years despite the pleas of public safety officials.

After the Murrah Building was bombed, rescuers searching through the
rubble were often cut off from fellow emergency responders.

"We did not have common radio systems, and cell phones did not work,"
said Bob Ricks, who was then special agent in charge of the Oklahoma
City FBI office.

"We literally had to use runners," Ricks said. "I had to send notes for
the chief of police and the chief of the fire department to meet me at a
street corner. In all honesty, I can't say if lives were lost or not
(because of communications problems)."
That was April 19, 1995.

"I can't say that we've actually improved since then," said Ricks, now
Edmond police chief.

Officials said other examples where emergency responders couldn't
communicate exist and show the need for interoperable communication
systems: The May 1999 tornado; an August 2000 car crash that killed four
people, including two law-enforcement officers who collided on
Interstate 40 while responding to different calls; and the May 2003
tornadoes.

Money matters

Oklahoma Highway Patrol Chief Gary Adams said that for the past two
decades legislators have cited tough financial times in turning down his
agency's requests for such a radio system.

"It should have been done years ago," Adams said. "The one thing that
stops this from happening is money."
Ricks said every year he ran the state Office of Homeland Security he
was told budget cuts and money shortages prevented the funding of a
statewide radio system.

Now, a committee is being formed to redistribute the $16 million in
federal grants to local agencies to bring radio systems up to date and
prepare to eventually link up with others, said Maj. Kerry Pettingill,
director of the state Office of Homeland Security.
"It's a pretty big bite out of it," Pettingill said. "If we can take $15
to $20 million chunks out of that a year, within a few years we'll be
able to build a system."

If the project is able to gain momentum, Pettingill said, then, "Perhaps
the Legislature could be able to put in enough money to finish it."

As Pettingill envisions, the system would be built using as a backbone
the Interstate 44 corridor slashing diagonally across Oklahoma and
through Lawton, Oklahoma City and Tulsa.

Tulsa has a system that allows interoperability among agencies, and
Oklahoma City is a little more than a year away from finishing one for
the metropolitan area.

In Lawton, agencies can communicate with each other in their city and
some county agencies but have to go through dispatchers to talk with
other cities and state agencies.

"We don't have the ability to communicate with the Highway Patrol, for
example, and we don't have the ability to communicate with some of the
municipal agencies, such as Altus," Lawton Fire Chief Bart Hadley said.
Pettingill said any statewide system would allow newer systems already
in place to link up.

"We don't want to go in and just halfway do it," Pettingill said. "We
want to do it in a clean sweep; upgrade everything to the standard we
believe it needs to be today."

Once the I-44 corridor is complete, crews could construct the
infrastructure to cast a web over the rest of Oklahoma.
Ricks explained the need to reach rural areas.

"Just as no one expected a terrorist event -- at the time it was the
largest terrorist event that ever occurred in the United States -- to
take place in Oklahoma City, there's no reason to not suspect that
something like that might occur somewhere else other than a major
metropolitan area," Ricks said.

Pettingill said eventually the system would link to similar systems in
surrounding states. Arkansas and Texas have started initiatives to build
interoperable systems, as have several other states.
Adams said such an ability can be crucial for his troopers.

"If a system covers 90 percent, that's not good if it's your life in the
10 percent," Adams said.
During the manhunt for the person suspected of shooting trooper Nikky
Green in December near the southern Oklahoma border town of Devol,
communications between agencies were difficult.

Not only was the area a "dead spot" for several communications systems,
but state troopers had a hard time communicating with assisting
agencies, Adams said.

"We'd have to check in with them on the telephone or through a
dispatcher," Adams said.
The technology is available, but other hurdles could be in the way of
establishing the statewide network.

"The biggest issue that deals with interoperability, no matter who you
are, even if you're on the same system, is procedures and policy," said
Kerry Wagnon, director of Oklahoma City's public safety and capital
projects.

Wagnon is overseeing Oklahoma City's building of a radio system that has
interoperable capabilities within the metropolitan area.

Wagnon said several questions need answers in establishing an
interoperable system: "What channel do you switch to in order to be able
to communicate with each other? Who's the lead agency on the event?
Which dispatcher controls the event?"
Others worry about the disbursement of money and who would control how
it is spent.

"Statewide communications is a very good idea, and I think everybody is
buying in on it," Hadley said. "But we want to make sure that we're not
giving up our ability to control the local money."

Those issues can be solved, Adams said, and a statewide system is
necessary to protect the lives of law enforcement officers and the
public.

"There's times that it's urgent," Adams said. "It's life or death."
http://www.newsok.com/cgi-bin/show_article?ID=1267879&TP=getarticle

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