Public Safety Interoperability First Responders

Public Safety Interoperability

First responders require seamless communications for a number of reasons. The very nature of incidents requiring their attention requires inter-dependence and interoperability between police and other emergency services (Davitt, 2008). The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks highlighted communications interoperability issues between first responders, after the lack of interoperability was considered a major factor in the deaths of more than 100 firemen at the World Trade Center in New York City (Why first-responder interoperability hasn't happened, 2004). First responders have to be able to work closely with a wide variety of other government and community organizations, including hospitals and health departments, quarantine, public utilities such as gas and electricity providers, the food and transport industries and the owners and operators of critical national infrastructure (Davitt, 2008).

First responder communications interoperability isn't just a local issue and the U.S. Federal Government is playing a large role in trying to ensure interoperability, which it defines as "the ability of first responders to communicate with whomever they need to (including personnel from a variety of agencies and jurisdictions), when they need to, and when they are authorized to do so" (United States Government Accountability Office, 2007). Because natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and other types of emergencies often do not respect jurisdictional or physical boundaries, first responders from different agencies, local, state and federal, need to quickly work together (Simay, 2009). During large, catastrophic incidents, first responders may need additional assistance from the U.S. military and the National Guard (Davitt, 2008). The federal government is also concerned that these large events could overwhelm the communications infrastructure, and, therefore, impede effective communication and response time if there isn't a way to control authorization (United States Government Accountability Office, 2007).