guest commentary
Communicating in an emergency
By Dan Grossman
Denver
Since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, there has been much opining and little agreement by pundits and government officials regarding Colorado's preparedness for large-scale disasters. But there is one lesson from Katrina that is both basic and critical. In the parlance of emergency response, it is the imperative of interoperability. In layman's terms, it is the need for all of our first responders to be able to communicate with one another in the face of monumental logistical challenges posed by large-scale incidents.
According to The Associated Press, technicians deployed to New Orleans to repair the flood-damaged communications systems of the police and fire departments were prevented from entering the city by state troopers who were using a different, incompatible system made by a different manufacturer. Meanwhile, the first responders within the city were forced to use limited "mutual aid" channels to coordinate response, but such channels quickly became overwhelmed by the thousands of users attempting to communicate. As a result, Federal Emergency Management Agency officials couldn't communicate readily with state and local agencies, helicopter rescuers couldn't communicate with rescue workers on the ground or on boats and the National Guard had to use runners to relay messages.
Katrina, like so many disasters before it, exemplifies the problem created by the lack of interoperability.
It is a problem that should sound familiar to Coloradans. On April 20, 1999, after Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold went on a shooting spree at Columbine High School that left 15 people dead and dozens wounded, nearly 1,000 cops, firefighters and EMTs responded to the scene. They represented six sheriffs' offices, 20 police departments, and 12 fire and EMS agencies. And when they got to the scene, efforts to coordinate the operation to rescue the students and apprehend the suspects were stymied by a tangle of incompatible radios and communications infrastructures.
Fortunately (indeed, miraculously), no additional lives were lost as a result of the confusion caused by the lack of interoperability at Columbine. Will we be as fortunate next time?
The state's commitment to creating a statewide, interoperable public safety radio system has been inconsistent. The legislature and the governor's office share responsibility for failing to fully fund the build-out of such a system (called the digital trunked radio system, or "DTRS"). Completion of the system was a promise made after Columbine that has yet to be fulfilled.
Fortunately, the governor's office dedicated $13 million of energy impact fees to the building of towers in areas of the state not yet covered by DTRS. While it will not be enough to complete the build-out, it is creating important progress.
But to make matters worse, the DTRS has yet to be embraced by Colorado's first responders. In fact, of the over 1,400 law enforcement, fire and EMS agencies in Colorado, only 400 are currently using the DTRS. Because the DTRS is a vendor-specific system (built by Motorola) that is not directly compatible with systems and radios produced by other manufacturers, it is not easy for non-Motorola agencies to join the system. Local agencies that have invested significant resources in their non-Motorola systems are reluctant to switch to systems that require more expensive equipment. Moreover, many local agencies in the mountainous areas of the state feel that the 800MHz radios that are compatible with DTRS do not work as well in their areas as their lower-frequency systems. And the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, which patrol vast portions of Colorado, especially on the Western Slope, currently use VHF radios that are not compatible with DTRS.
Fortunately, technology that allows incompatible radios to patch into the DTRS is improving rapidly. For example, the Denver Police Department, which uses a MA/Com 800MHz radio system that is not directly compatible with the DTRS, is implementing an Internet protocol system that will allow it and other non-Motorola agencies to join talk groups on the DTRS during large-scale emergencies. This type of technology shows great promise in enhancing the coverage of and participation in the DTRS without asking local agencies to jettison their existing systems and radios.
Achieving interoperability will require the concerted effort of state and local government. The governor's office and the legislature need to work together to find the funds necessary to complete the build-out of the DTRS infrastructure and to remove the vendor-specific aspects of the system that are barriers to expanding interoperability. Local agencies need to craft and implement interoperability plans that specify how they will migrate to a communications system that is compatible with DTRS or how they will modify their existing systems to patch onto the statewide system by a specific date.
Other states such as Minnesota and Virginia have successfully implemented interoperability strategies that have improved public safety. Colorado, the home of Columbine, should follow suit.
As Katrina emphatically demonstrates, we simply can't afford not to.
Democratic state Sen. Dan Grossman represents District 32 in Denver and Jefferson County.
Communicating in an emergency
By Dan Grossman
Denver
Since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, there has been much opining and little agreement by pundits and government officials regarding Colorado's preparedness for large-scale disasters. But there is one lesson from Katrina that is both basic and critical. In the parlance of emergency response, it is the imperative of interoperability. In layman's terms, it is the need for all of our first responders to be able to communicate with one another in the face of monumental logistical challenges posed by large-scale incidents.
According to The Associated Press, technicians deployed to New Orleans to repair the flood-damaged communications systems of the police and fire departments were prevented from entering the city by state troopers who were using a different, incompatible system made by a different manufacturer. Meanwhile, the first responders within the city were forced to use limited "mutual aid" channels to coordinate response, but such channels quickly became overwhelmed by the thousands of users attempting to communicate. As a result, Federal Emergency Management Agency officials couldn't communicate readily with state and local agencies, helicopter rescuers couldn't communicate with rescue workers on the ground or on boats and the National Guard had to use runners to relay messages.
Katrina, like so many disasters before it, exemplifies the problem created by the lack of interoperability.
It is a problem that should sound familiar to Coloradans. On April 20, 1999, after Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold went on a shooting spree at Columbine High School that left 15 people dead and dozens wounded, nearly 1,000 cops, firefighters and EMTs responded to the scene. They represented six sheriffs' offices, 20 police departments, and 12 fire and EMS agencies. And when they got to the scene, efforts to coordinate the operation to rescue the students and apprehend the suspects were stymied by a tangle of incompatible radios and communications infrastructures.
Fortunately (indeed, miraculously), no additional lives were lost as a result of the confusion caused by the lack of interoperability at Columbine. Will we be as fortunate next time?
The state's commitment to creating a statewide, interoperable public safety radio system has been inconsistent. The legislature and the governor's office share responsibility for failing to fully fund the build-out of such a system (called the digital trunked radio system, or "DTRS"). Completion of the system was a promise made after Columbine that has yet to be fulfilled.
Fortunately, the governor's office dedicated $13 million of energy impact fees to the building of towers in areas of the state not yet covered by DTRS. While it will not be enough to complete the build-out, it is creating important progress.
But to make matters worse, the DTRS has yet to be embraced by Colorado's first responders. In fact, of the over 1,400 law enforcement, fire and EMS agencies in Colorado, only 400 are currently using the DTRS. Because the DTRS is a vendor-specific system (built by Motorola) that is not directly compatible with systems and radios produced by other manufacturers, it is not easy for non-Motorola agencies to join the system. Local agencies that have invested significant resources in their non-Motorola systems are reluctant to switch to systems that require more expensive equipment. Moreover, many local agencies in the mountainous areas of the state feel that the 800MHz radios that are compatible with DTRS do not work as well in their areas as their lower-frequency systems. And the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, which patrol vast portions of Colorado, especially on the Western Slope, currently use VHF radios that are not compatible with DTRS.
Fortunately, technology that allows incompatible radios to patch into the DTRS is improving rapidly. For example, the Denver Police Department, which uses a MA/Com 800MHz radio system that is not directly compatible with the DTRS, is implementing an Internet protocol system that will allow it and other non-Motorola agencies to join talk groups on the DTRS during large-scale emergencies. This type of technology shows great promise in enhancing the coverage of and participation in the DTRS without asking local agencies to jettison their existing systems and radios.
Achieving interoperability will require the concerted effort of state and local government. The governor's office and the legislature need to work together to find the funds necessary to complete the build-out of the DTRS infrastructure and to remove the vendor-specific aspects of the system that are barriers to expanding interoperability. Local agencies need to craft and implement interoperability plans that specify how they will migrate to a communications system that is compatible with DTRS or how they will modify their existing systems to patch onto the statewide system by a specific date.
Other states such as Minnesota and Virginia have successfully implemented interoperability strategies that have improved public safety. Colorado, the home of Columbine, should follow suit.
As Katrina emphatically demonstrates, we simply can't afford not to.
Democratic state Sen. Dan Grossman represents District 32 in Denver and Jefferson County.
