Interoperable wireless communications: Easier said than done

The Public Safety Wireless Network Program (PSWN), a joint initiative of the departments of Justice and Treasury, has identified three basic levels of interoperability: day-to-day interoperability for routine public safety operations; mutual aid interoperability for response to catastrophic events; and task-force interoperability for long-term collaboration among federal, state and local agencies.The program advocates a statewide approach, rather than a regional or local one, to wireless interoperable communications, said Robert Lee, a PSWN spokesman. The program calls upon states to establish an interoperability executive committee that will oversee implementation of the network and include a broad representation of users.An executive committee would resolve conflicts over priority access and other issues that might arise by control of frequency allocation, he said.As for regional participation, "We hope that it would grow out of that group," Lee said.Only a few states have such a committee, he said. For now, most states are inventorying existing systems, assessing needs and determining whether they can achieve interoperability with some adjustments or enhancements, he said. Many in government and industry believe there is going to be a struggle among agencies for priority access, but that hasn't really occurred with most of the wireless interoperable systems installed to date, because they aren't yet at full capacity, Lee said."The conflicts that they thought were going to exist don't reveal themselves because the system is well-designed," he said.