Buckskinner33
Member
This is from www.Officer.com
Kansas Takes Steps Toward Upgraded Communications System
JOHN MILBURN
Associated Press
June 2nd, 2005
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- State officials unveiled an initiative Wednesday to create a seamless communications system for first responders and emergency management agencies across Kansas.
Financed by $16 million in federal grants and state transportation funds, the project will open 76 Kansas Department of Transportation towers to local government agencies and help upgrade communications systems for 17 southeast Kansas counties. The goal is to link police, fire, ambulance and other first responders during emergencies.
The project is the first step in an initiative created by 2004 legislation. Legislators saw a need for effective communication links after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
Emergency management officials said they have faced problems for years in responding to calls.
Jim Schmidt, Butler County Emergency Management director, said the issue arose Wednesday when a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper chased a driver in a stolen car off the Kansas Turnpike and into the city of Andover. The chase was joined by a Butler County sheriff's deputy and Andover police officer.
''They couldn't talk to each other. A dispatcher had to relay information,'' Schmidt said. ''You just bite your finger nails and wait.''
Added Augusta Police Chief Tyler Brewer: ''It's deplorable. It shouldn't happen in this day and age and something needs to be done about it.''
Col. William Seck, the Highway Patrol's superintendent, said communication difficulties are cited in every briefing after an emergency. Use of different codes and language by agencies and myriad radio systems and capabilities hamper effective responses when lives and property are at risk, he said.
Using KDOT towers and additional communication systems will help link agencies regardless of the frequencies they use, he said.
Also, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius recently signed an executive order requiring the implementation of the National Incident Management System, designed to give all agencies common terminology in responding to events.
Schmidt said that during the 1991 Andover tornado, emergency crews often had to rely on foot power, not radio power, to effectively communicate as they went through neighborhoods.
''It's a very complex problem and it's expensive,'' Schmidt said.
A simple radio system for a county could run $1 million to $2 million. But newer digital technology with voice and data capabilities can push the cost millions higher.
To help cover the state's cost of providing tower space, KDOT will lease the towers to private communications companies. The money will then be reinvested to help county agencies buy newer technology.
Half of the state's population is concentrated in four urban counties that have more resources for communications equipment.
This project will help the other 101 counties to add new equipment and improve communications during disasters, said Gene Krase, administrator of the Kansas Department of Emergency Management.
Krase said counties have been using federal homeland security grants to upgrade their communications systems. Future grants and money from the leases will allow the state to also upgrade the towers, which now would be limited to traffic equivalent to two cell phone calls at a time.
''It's going to take years getting the system along to handle the necessary call density,'' Krase said.
Sen. Jay Emler, R-Lindsborg, a member of the Legislature's security committee, said he has written the state's Congressional delegation asking it to work on getting Kansas the federal money it needs to improve systems statewide.
''It's good to have it on a trial basis. We just don't have the funding to do everything,'' Emler said.
Kansas Takes Steps Toward Upgraded Communications System
JOHN MILBURN
Associated Press
June 2nd, 2005
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- State officials unveiled an initiative Wednesday to create a seamless communications system for first responders and emergency management agencies across Kansas.
Financed by $16 million in federal grants and state transportation funds, the project will open 76 Kansas Department of Transportation towers to local government agencies and help upgrade communications systems for 17 southeast Kansas counties. The goal is to link police, fire, ambulance and other first responders during emergencies.
The project is the first step in an initiative created by 2004 legislation. Legislators saw a need for effective communication links after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
Emergency management officials said they have faced problems for years in responding to calls.
Jim Schmidt, Butler County Emergency Management director, said the issue arose Wednesday when a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper chased a driver in a stolen car off the Kansas Turnpike and into the city of Andover. The chase was joined by a Butler County sheriff's deputy and Andover police officer.
''They couldn't talk to each other. A dispatcher had to relay information,'' Schmidt said. ''You just bite your finger nails and wait.''
Added Augusta Police Chief Tyler Brewer: ''It's deplorable. It shouldn't happen in this day and age and something needs to be done about it.''
Col. William Seck, the Highway Patrol's superintendent, said communication difficulties are cited in every briefing after an emergency. Use of different codes and language by agencies and myriad radio systems and capabilities hamper effective responses when lives and property are at risk, he said.
Using KDOT towers and additional communication systems will help link agencies regardless of the frequencies they use, he said.
Also, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius recently signed an executive order requiring the implementation of the National Incident Management System, designed to give all agencies common terminology in responding to events.
Schmidt said that during the 1991 Andover tornado, emergency crews often had to rely on foot power, not radio power, to effectively communicate as they went through neighborhoods.
''It's a very complex problem and it's expensive,'' Schmidt said.
A simple radio system for a county could run $1 million to $2 million. But newer digital technology with voice and data capabilities can push the cost millions higher.
To help cover the state's cost of providing tower space, KDOT will lease the towers to private communications companies. The money will then be reinvested to help county agencies buy newer technology.
Half of the state's population is concentrated in four urban counties that have more resources for communications equipment.
This project will help the other 101 counties to add new equipment and improve communications during disasters, said Gene Krase, administrator of the Kansas Department of Emergency Management.
Krase said counties have been using federal homeland security grants to upgrade their communications systems. Future grants and money from the leases will allow the state to also upgrade the towers, which now would be limited to traffic equivalent to two cell phone calls at a time.
''It's going to take years getting the system along to handle the necessary call density,'' Krase said.
Sen. Jay Emler, R-Lindsborg, a member of the Legislature's security committee, said he has written the state's Congressional delegation asking it to work on getting Kansas the federal money it needs to improve systems statewide.
''It's good to have it on a trial basis. We just don't have the funding to do everything,'' Emler said.
