Police, Fire Chiefs Say Plan Will Not Improve Communications

By Kim Hart
The Hill
March 22, 2010

Police and fire chiefs from around the country are calling on Congress to make sure public safety agencies have access to enough wireless airwaves to form a nationwide communication network for first responders.

Public safety executives say the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) National Broadband Plan undermines their ability to build a network that would allow federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to talk to each other during national disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina or the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The National Broadband Plan, which the FCC delivered to Congress last week, makes several recommendations intended to allow paramedics, police officers, port authority patrols and other emergency workers to create a national network to replace the current patchwork of networks that use different technologies, making it difficult for different jurisdictions to communicate.

Click here to view the full article