Law Enforcement Communications Interoperability of Emergency Service

Law Enforcement Communications

Interoperability of Emergency Service Communications

The number and scope of each individual emergency and public safety agency has resulted in an ad hoc patchwork of communication equipment. Routine daily needs within one agency for clear and concise communication fall short of readiness for large-scale emergencies involving either multiple services or jurisdictions. The current budgeting autonomy of each public service department has resulted in a many agencies with antiquated equipment, while others posses more modern tools, that may sufficiently serve current needs, yet is clearly inadequate for more common emergencies like large fires or traffic pile ups. However, interoperability, the capability to communicate across different gear, radio frequencies, and standardization, both limits and delays the response time, as well as effectiveness, of each individual. When emergencies entail injuries and danger, timely command and communication of resources may be the difference between life and death.

The video, "Why Can't We Talk, When Lives Are At Stake," emphasizes the limitations of public service agencies when communication is constrained by non-standardized equipment. The video highlights the command control apparatus of normal activities, in which department specific gear may be sufficient, against the dynamic needs of emergencies, such as the Oklahoma City bombing that deployed multiple agencies (U.S. Dept. Of Justice). Ideally, emergencies necessitate a unified communication channel that enables the coordination of first responders.

Achieving the unified standard of communication equipment necessitates a top down federal initiative to overcome local budgetary priorities. However, top down leadership is not the only obstacle to overcoming local department autonomy and equipment investment, the video notes that no current technology can utilize all of the current radio frequencies used by public service agencies, noted at 10 such wavelengths.

The solution to standardizing the frequency used by public service responders covers both one of budgetary constraints and unifying the varied departments to compel collaboration of needs, as well as developing a request for proposals from industry to build a fitting solution. A federally led mandate of communication equipment standards may be the best path to achieving greater inoperability amongst services, as well as ensuring a sufficient market for industry to deliver a customized solution.

The solution to the problem of one piece of an equipment able to cover all the varied wavelengths could be solved by standardizing to a single wavelength for emergencies that require collaboration. Localized responses should enable officers to switch frequencies to a reserved band for large-scale emergencies, while still retaining the more commonly used channels for more routine communication. A single use channel for large-scale emergencies ensures that communication clutter and overload does not erode effectiveness.