Bridging communications gap when disaster strikes
In the midst of a disaster, Oregon's state agencies wouldn't be able to communicate with each other quickly. Nor could they share information easily with county and city police, fire and other emergency services, federal agencies, or neighboring states. In an earthquake, wildfire or terrorist attack, police and other officials would have to communicate via phone or e-mail. That's because their radio systems can't talk to each other. Getting all of Oregon's decades-old radio systems communicating with one another could cost as much as $665 million, according to a $1 million study that the state's interoperability committee commissioned from national consulting firm Federal Engineering of Fairfax, Va. But the state doesn't have $665 million to spare. And grant funding that the state hopes to get from the federal Department of Homeland Security will amount to perhaps 3 percent of that figure. Due to cost and other factors, other regions have adopted a relatively inexpensive alternative, called Radio over Internet Protocol (RoIP). The technology employs software and common Internet routing equipment to move traditional radio communications onto secure Internet connections. Dave Billstrom, who owns a small Portland firm selling radio interoperability technology, believes RoIP can get all the systems in the state talking to each other for $150 million or less, without every public-safety agency worrying about having to replace all of its radios. Billstrom's company, National Interop Inc., is now working on projects for several public safety radio systems, getting them equipped for Internet protocol compatibility. Oregon's interoperability committee certainly hasn't ruled out RoIP, said Mike Zanon, program manager of the Oregon Wireless Interoperability Project. However, Zanon believes that legistlation the state passed two years ago requires that a single radio system be developed for the state police, transportation, forestry and corrections departments. Furthermore, because Federal Engineering's study found that 80 percent of the state's radio system needs to be replaced, it's more efficient, Zanon said, to put all four agencies onto a single radio system, with the same equipment. Part of the problem is that Oregon's state interoperability committee is faced with too many technology choices and too little money, said Ken Murphy, director of Oregon Emergency Management, and a member of the committee. "We've talked about RoIP and about every solution in the world," said Murphy. "I guess I'm a proponent of having one system that the four jurisdictions can share costs on, and having everyone trained and educated on one thing, not four different things." Public safety agencies all over the country became sharply aware of the interoperability problem after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. More than 100 firefighters died in one of the World Center towers because police manning nearby helicopters couldn't warn the firefighters the tower was about to fall. When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans two years ago, city police, state police and the National Guard had to send messages to each other by foot, because their radio system couldn't communicate with each other.
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