Academic urges government-run emergency communications network

A Carnegie Mellon University expert on Thursday called for the development of a government-run communications network that would enable police, firefighters and other emergency responders from different jurisdictions to talk to each other.

"A government system is feasible, and it would clearly be more cost effective than what we have today," Jon Peha, an engineering and public policy professor, said during the presentation of a paper on the issue at a forum sponsored by the New America Foundation.

Peha said that after the disastrous communications failures on Sept. 11, 2001, and during Hurricane Katrina, he could "not see why we should tolerate" the current decentralized emergency-response system, which gives the flexibility of local "first responder" agencies precedence over standardization and regional cooperation.

The need for promoting better interoperable communications among first responders was dramatically demonstrated on 9/11 when many of the firefighters operating inside the World Trade Center's North Tower failed to receive evacuation orders broadcast over the police radio system shortly before the building collapsed. More than 120 firefighters died in the tower.

Peha said a good starting place for a new system would be the congressionally mandated program to double the emergency broadcast bandwidth by reallocating 24 megahertz of prime spectrum from television to public safety as a part of the transition from analog to digital signals in 2009.

"This is a new place to play, a place where we can get the right technology and policy in place in the first place," Peha said.

He said the existing federal policy of "throwing grant money" at local agencies to make incremental improvements would only perpetuate the inefficiency and fragility of current communications networks.

Peha's proposal was applauded at the forum by David Aylward, the director of the Comcare Alliance, a national advocacy group for improved emergency response. "This is a powerful paper, and it's an indictment of current federal policy," Aylward said.

In other presentations at the forum, Nextel co-founder Morgan O'Brien outlined his plan to reserve 30 MHz of TV spectrum for a joint commercial-public safety network, and Michael Gottdenker, the CEO of the wireless consulting company Access Spectrum, gave a briefing on his firm's plan to reorganize 24 MHz of already reallocated spectrum for more efficient use.

Gottdenker said the Access Spectrum proposal has "widespread support" because it would not require legislation and offers benefits to both commercial interests and safety agencies.