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GCN Home > 06/05/06 issue

DHS to keep score on local comm plans

First responders say grades could help interoperability

By Wilson P. Dizard III, GCN Staff

Like security and e-government managers before them, radio interoperability managers in cities across the country soon will receive scorecards on their performance.

The Homeland Security Department plans to give public grades by the end of the year in a bid to pinpoint areas for improvement, secretary Michael Chertoff said in a speech last week.

Leaders in the first-responder community welcomed the announcement.

Harlin McEwen, chairman of the Communications and Technology Committee of the International Association of Chiefs of Police of Alexandria, Va., and a former police chief from Ithaca, N.Y., generally endorsed the scorecard program.

McEwen urged that DHS seek advice from first-responder organizations as it frames its criteria for evaluating city and regional interoperability programs.

Like other interoperability managers, McEwen cautioned that cities differ in their demographic characteristics, pre-existing radio communications infrastructures, regional government institutions and other factors that will make direct comparisons via the scorecards unreliable.

“The issue of governance and what are commonly referred to as turf battles are obstacles that need to be overcome,” McEwen said, echoing Chertoff’s analysis. “Those issues need to be assessed.”

Chertoff emphasized that technology for interoperability, while not perfect, is available now. He emphasized the need for governance plans that would cover issues such as protocols for which types of communications have priority in a disaster situation.

Governance plans also specify frequencies and communication codes for first responders. The state and local agencies also need to adopt training programs so first responders can use the equipment, Chertoff said.

DHS has issued model communications interoperability plans to states and spent more than $2.1 billion to fund state and local programs in the area, Chertoff said.

“By the end of this year, each urban area is going to get a scorecard, a public scorecard, that will identify gaps and help us to determine the improvements we need to make in the near term,” Chertoff said. “The purpose of this is not to penalize people.”

DHS issued the prepared remarks for Chertoff’s speech at the Tactical Interoperable Communications conference on May 8.

Chertoff said the department would issue its scorecard methodology this week, so states and cities could pinpoint areas in which they need to improve their interoperability programs. The scorecard would help states and cities judge the effectiveness of their existing DHS grants and shape future grant programs, he added.

Chertoff touted the progress of the RapidCom program, under which DHS has funded systems so incident managers in 10 of the country’s highest-risk cities can communicate with one another and their command centers.

More news on related topics: Communications / Networks, Homeland Security, Management, State & Local



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