Monday, March 1, 2010

The Word of the Day is....Interoperability!!!!

A 25+ car pile up on the PA Turnpike last Friday was further complicated by whiteout conditions, drifting snow, and traffic back logs. One thing that was not a complicating factor, radio communications! As the incident progressed on Friday, DPS saw the need for direct communications between Command 47 and the multiple state agencies involved. Within a matter of minutes DPS was able to load a state Talk Group (Tac2) into the TG16 slot on a portable, making communications between Command 47, DMVA (Department of Military and Veterans Affairs), PennDOT and PEMA possible! Instant and simple interoperability!

Soon all portables and mobiles in the County will have Global 1, Global 2 and Commonwealth InterOps profiles in their radios, making this interoperability for major events readily available to all responders, as state agencies also possess these profiles! DPS is in the process of working on policy and procedure with The Commonwealth of PA to implement the three profiles in all Cumberland radios. A simple change in profile and you will be able to easily communicate with the state agencies you may be working with!

Cumberland County is the only county in the state that has the ability to directly communicate with the state like this! Other counties require special equipment or patches to do so.

No comments:

Post a Comment