NCJ Number
196474
Journal
Law Enforcement Technology Volume: 29 Issue: 8 Dated: August 2002 Pages: 48,50-52,53
Date Published
August 2002
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article discusses information gained and improvements that have occurred in emergency communications systems, as a result of the September 11 disaster, in New York City, and the Washington DC metropolitan area.
Abstract
Aging communications systems and the differences between them have caused difficulties in emergency response by public safety agencies in New York City. A new field-tested and reprogrammed XTS 3500 dual analog/digital hand-held Motorola radio, reissued to the Fire Department of New York City following the September 11 disaster, can be programmed to operate on dozens of radio channels, preventing congestion on the previously single fire-scene channel. A switch from the VHF band to a UHF band also enabled communication between police, emergency medical services, the Office of Emergency Management, and other New York City systems. This higher frequency can better penetrate concrete and steel than the radios in use on September 11. In contrast, the radio communications system in Arlington County, Virginia, at the Pentagon incident, worked well for the emergency workers on the scene, as well as for the numerous services attempting to get to the scene. That success was attributed to the release of a new 800-MHz spectrum, initiated in 1984, in Arlington County, following a plane crash disaster. This new spectrum was instituted by departments in Arlington, Fairfax County, the City of Alexandria, the Washington Airport Authority in Virginia and Frederick and Carol Counties in Maryland, and the District of Columbia Fire-EMS Department, in an incremental fashion as they replaced their systems over the ensuing years to the present. However, the issue of spectrum as a finite natural resource makes for a challenge to communities across the Nation to work together to ensure interoperability for emergency response personnel and equipment.