|
jf1acai
|
|
| Joined: 04 Feb 2003 |
| Posts: 12479 |
| Location: Golden, CO |
|
Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 2:09 pm Post subject: Interoperability: Stop Blaming the Radio |
 |
| Quote: | Interoperability: Stop Blaming the Radio
Ronald P. Timmons
INTRODUCTION
One of the most pressing first responder issues emerging in the post-9/11 era is the need to improve emergency scene radio communications. This concern actually pre-dates the terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001, and has been a commonly cited issue, in dealing with nearly every disaster or incident of major significance, for many years.
The one word repeatedly heard in describing the problems relating to disaster scene communications is “interoperability.” Without full consideration of all the causal factors, the charge has been to fix the oft-cited frustration of field responders being unable to communicate – and all the blame has gone to interoperability. The 9/11 attacks were a catalyst for an unprecedented amount of money spent on radio hardware. The numbers are staggering: estimates range up to five billion dollars in homeland security grants to enable and facilitate emergency communications. Hurricane Katrina in 2005 again sent first responders looking for communications improvements. This article challenges first responders to look beyond technical solutions and consider other factors impeding emergency scene communications.
Defining the issue has been difficult. Is interoperability the ability of all police officers to talk on radios to all firefighters at the same incident? Does interoperability refer to federal agencies having radio connection to state and local officials? Is interoperability only for those at the scene, or command post, or for those at the Emergency Operations Center as well? Will it be provided for every responder or command-to-command only? Or does interoperability address the wider issues of radio system coverage, frequency spectrum capacities, technology piece ergonomics, and alternate (non-voice) communications methods? Interoperability has been used as a catch-all phrase to describe a multitude of issues surrounding emergency scene communications. There are numerous reasons for inadequate disaster communications. Nationwide efforts, such as the Department of Homeland Security’s Project SAFECOM, have begun to acknowledge an expanded definition of interoperability beyond the technical, to include behavioral and procedural elements. Communication impediments do include insufficient radio infrastructure, but they are also influenced by behavioral reactions of first responders in stressful situations, dysfunctional intergovernmental relations, inadequate procedures and training, and general lethargy over the need to institute special operating policies differing from routine habits and practices.
The early homeland security grants approach, immediately following 9/11, was to deploy equipment to patch radio systems and devices together, or purchase more individual radio units to communicate over obsolete and inadequate radio systems. The result has been the expenditure of huge sums of grant dollars on communications patching equipment, perhaps creating the mistaken impression on the part of first responders that emergency scene communication will instantly and automatically be improved once the equipment is bought and plugged-in. Before efforts such as the SAFECOM Program, “…interoperability efforts were uncoordinated and spread across a variety of Federal agencies.” Total reliance upon technological solutions, without proportionate training and practice, greatly reduces the effectiveness of radio patching equipment.
New radio gateway patching equipment was deployed nationwide, with little initial guidance or consensus for proper use. Since then, planning and training components have been introduced into the grant process and major urban areas have been compelled to file and test Tactical Interoperability Plans in 2006, but the migration of theory and specific manipulative skills, down to the user-level, has been slow to occur. A major interoperability survey, just released, found that “…strategic plans for interoperability are the exception rather than the norm.”
This article suggests alternatives to overzealous equipment interconnection and instead urges a rethinking of the factors faced by personnel operating at a disaster. Common practice and policies should include new procedures for first responders when using radio equipment designed to improve interoperability. Communications improvement alternatives, such as training responders to prioritize radio traffic and employ alternatives, should be carefully weighed and tailored by first responder policy makers, while devising a policy best suited for their local jurisdictions. |
Full Article (PDF)
This excellent article, from Homeland Security Affairs, The Journal of the Naval Postgraduate School Center For Homeland Defense and Security (http://www.hsaj.org), is MUST reading for anyone involved in emergency communications, and also for anyone concerned about the communications failures during recent major disasters.
Thanks to Jeff, W0AI, for bringing this to my attention. |
    |
|
|
|
