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TechnologyDaily Mobile
Calling All Emergency Personnel
by Maureen Sirhal
The heads of the some of the nation's most innovative emergency-response networks gathered in Washington on Tuesday to highlight ways that state and local law enforcement and emergency "first responders" are integrating their communications infrastructures.
Curt Munro, manager of wireless services for the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, said public-safety agencies are moving toward regional communications networks that can support not only wireless radio communications but also phone and handheld communications devices. "It's very, very difficult when you are trying to communicate within your city "and public-safety agencies cannot talk to one another," Munro said. As a member of the county police, he added, "I couldn't even talk to [the fire department] for most of my career" due to a lack of interoperability among networks.
He said a major challenge to implementing a regional system is coaxing the participants to relinquish control of their networks to one public-safety communications unit governed by a new entity.
Representatives from Miami-Dade County, Fla., and Phoenix, Ariz., noted that while the cost of building interoperable networks can be prohibitive, sharing networks across neighboring localities often utilizes "diminished resources" more efficiently. "Our main focus was [to] develop a system where [law enforcement] officials did not have to do anything ... to communicate across the system," Gilbert Thomas, head of communications operations at Miami-Dade's Police Department, said of the effort there.
Currently, all but two of the 40 local agencies in Miami-Dade communicate via the regional system, and the technology chosen to implement it has helped reduce the error response rate to local emergencies by 25 percent. Participants had to agree on a mutual system of terminology for communicating over the network, and Thomas added that the cooperation of various technical support staffs proved critical. He echoed Munro in noting that some players, such as emergency-response dispatchers, were reluctant to abdicate some control over their territory.
A similar system is slated to go live in Phoenix. It would span a 2,000-square-mile area between the city's metropolitan region and the city of Mesa, said Bill Phillips, communications director for Phoenix. The Phoenix-Mesa system will boast two distinct channels for police and fire communications. Educating local officials in both areas proved a crucial ingredient in moving the project forward, Phillips added.
Despite such progress, states face a major challenge in maintaining funding to upgrade and build their public-safety systems, Munro said. "The real problem we're facing is that the money being provided is one-time funding," he said, referring to homeland security grants that the federal government has allocated to the states for emergency preparedness.
He argued that even local and state 911 taxes only provide enough funding to ensure that emergency operators respond to initial calls immediately and do not guarantee that those calls are properly directed to field responders.
"What we need now is to raise the bar of expectations in terms of funding" and create a formula to ensure that state and localities are equipped with recurring funding sources. He added that if states or localities want to push a specific standard for interoperable communications networks, they should create a consistent funding base to propel that standard.
"The best way to ensure you are coming to an adequate standard is by holding the purse strings," he said.
In other security news, President Bush has appointed Utah Gov. Michael Leavitt as a member of the President's Homeland Security Advisory Council. The council consists of experts representing state and local governments, the private sector, nonprofit groups and the public sector, and they will give the president advice on homeland security matters.
Technology Bills Signed Into Law
Several state legislatures have recessed for the year but not without sending several technology-related measures to their governors. In Maryland, for instance, Gov. Parris Glendening has signed numerous bills within the past few weeks. They include:
- H.B. 1036, which outlines new wiretapping rules. A related measure, S.B. 20, provides additional authority for law enforcement officers to intercept oral communications after lawfully detaining a vehicle during a criminal investigation.
- H.B. 1265, which establishes a State Commission on Public Safety Technology and Critical Infrastructure to help bolster the interoperability of the government's communications and information-management systems.
- H.B. 358, an identity-theft measure that expands the definition of "personal identifying information" to include payment-device numbers. It also expands the definitions of crimes involving such information and heightens the penalties for violators.
- S.B. 52, which creates new conditions for altering or terminating the listing of a convicted sex offender in the state's registry of such offenders.
- H.B. 1024, which requires an official custodian of public records to consider new limitations on making certain public records immediately available upon request and establishes new procedures for public records.
- S.B. 491 and H.B. 835, which generally prohibit the state government, except for higher education entities, from initiating major information technology projects. The bill also creates the Major Information Technology Development Authority.
- H.B. 1197, which enables the state superintendent to procure technology for schools and to develop related standards for offering online courses and services.
- S.B. 238, which exempts certain state security plans, procedures and systems from the public-records laws. Only records that would stifle the implementation of security enforcement, reveal classified data or endanger public safety would be exempt from disclosure.
- H.B. 320, which approves the acquisition of electronic voting equipment to let disabled voters submit private, independent and verifiable ballots. The measure took effect June 5.
Wisconsin To Offer Online Tax Filing
Residents of Wisconsin will be able to file tax returns online thanks to the state's new e-tax filing system, which was Gov. Scott McCallum unveiled in May. The new system will enable residents to file their taxes online by 2003 and save the state money on processing paper filings.
"This new, free e-filing service will save money and time for taxpayers, and will save the state money as well," McCallum said in a statement. "This is just another way of making government live within its means while becoming more responsive to citizens."
The free service will be available via the state's Web portal at www.Wisconsin.gov. Electronic filers who choose direct deposit will receive their Wisconsin income-tax refund within five working days. Those who file traditional paper forms will receive their refunds within 12 weeks.
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