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Public Safety Communications Still Problematic 10 Years Later

Published Date: 09.07.2011

By Scott Potter, NVFC Director from Connecticut

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, focused public attention on the glaring need to improve emergency responders’ communications capabilities. While this had been recognized within the public safety community for years, it wasn’t until the 9/11 Commission report made it clear that providing additional radio spectrum to emergency services agencies was a priority for improving both security and safety that momentum towards a solution started to build on Capitol Hill.

Today, advocates for emergency communications and our allies in Congress are focused on passing legislation that would create a nationwide wireless broadband network for public safety using radio spectrum in the 700 MHz band commonly referred to as the “D Block”. There are a number of bills that would accomplish this, but the one with the most momentum right now is the Strengthening Public-safety and Enhancing Communications Through Reform, Utilization, and Modernization (SPECTRUM) Act, which was designated as S. 911 for symbolic reasons. S. 911 is one of the National Volunteer Fire Council’s (NVFC) top legislative priorities, and you can send an email to your Senators using our Capwiz service to ask them to co-sponsor the bill. While I certainly hope that you do contact your Senators about S. 911, the purpose of this article isn’t to drum up support for legislation as much as it is to examine what the creation of the broadband network would mean for public safety.

This past June, I had the privilege of representing the NVFC at a White House briefing on The Benefits of Transitioning to a Nationwide Wireless Broadband Network for Public Safety. Among the speakers at the briefing were Vice President Joe Biden, Attorney General Eric Holder, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, and Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley. Each speaker identified the same challenge facing public safety today, which is that communications technologies have advanced far more rapidly than emergency services agencies have been able to keep up. This has far-ranging impacts on the ability of emergency response agencies to obtain information in real time, communicate internally and, during larger-scale events that require mutual aid assistance, communicate with other agencies.

New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, who participated in a panel discussion during the briefing, put it succinctly when he remarked that a 16-year old with a smartphone has more advanced communications capability than a police officer or deputy carrying a radio. I think it is safe to say that however far behind smartphones the NYPD may be, they are still a world ahead of the average volunteer fire department, many of whom are still using radio systems that operate on UHF and VHF frequencies.

Not only are today’s public safety communications systems outdated but they are split across thousands of federal, state and local jurisdictions that each have to pay for their own maintenance and upkeep. Secretary Napolitano indicated that DHS alone spends around $1 billion annually on public safety communications and interoperability. A nationwide broadband network would align today’s fragmented system, saving local agencies money while giving them access to technologically modern capabilities.

One of the biggest challenges facing public safety agencies today – especially in the volunteer emergency services – is a lack of resources. National needs assessments consistently show that smaller, rural fire departments have significant difficulty affording new, updated equipment, including communications tools. We all know that buying new radios and implementing a new communications system is expensive, but something I was unaware of before attending the briefing was that traditional public safety communications systems cost up to 10 times more than the same commercial device. I also learned that a nationwide network would allow commercial developers of smartphones, tablets, and mobile networks and applications to connect to a broad, unified market for public safety communications. According to the Congressional Research Service, this could potentially drive down the cost of public safety radios from $4,000-$6,000 per unit to around $500.

In addition to the potential for upgrading voice communication capabilities through the establishment of a nationwide broadband network, the implications for being able to transmit videos and data to and from the scenes of emergencies are equally noteworthy. Would you like to be able to download the floor plan of a building before you engage in interior fire attack? How about obtaining information about the topography and vegetation of an area where you are engaged that is engulfed in wildland fire or flooding? These are just a few examples of the vast array of applications that could potentially become readily and affordably accessible to emergency responders in even the most remote, rural parts of the country.

As I reflect on what happened 10 years ago and consider the challenges that firefighters and other emergency workers in New York, Washington, and Shanksville faced, I’m struck by two things. First, while public safety communications systems have been upgraded in a number of communities around the country, the fact remains that intra- and inter-operability still remain problematic for a large number of agencies, especially during large-scale events. Second, the technology exists and a politically feasible public policy solution is on the table to provide first responders across the country with communications capabilities that firefighters, EMTs, and police officers could only have dreamed of in 2001.

In the coming days and weeks, the NVFC along with organizations representing just about every facet of the public safety community will be working with Congress to try to have the D Block allocated to public safety in order to build a nationwide broadband communications network. We’ll be keeping you, our members, informed about developments and asking you to contact your Representatives and Senators when there are important votes taking place. I urge you to consider the possibilities that this opportunity presents and act accordingly.

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