Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Special Services District Interoperability Report

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 28 Sep 2003 14:07:33 -0400

Special Services District Interoperability Report

1. INTRODUCTION

Special Services Districts (SSD) are integrated into every aspect of American
society.  Activities as simple as visiting an amusement park, commuting by rail,
or traveling by airplane involve interaction with SSDs.  Further, many people live
and work in communities that are adjacent to nuclear power plants, oil refineries,
or military installations—all venues considered to be SSDs.  The common element
among these SSDs is that they maintain their own internal public safety response
capability.  This capability effectively provides an extra layer of public safety
response in addition to existing governmental or local public safety response
agencies.  For the purposes of this report, SSDs are defined as private, military,
or quasi-governmental organizations that employ first responders (e.g., security
guards or law enforcement officers, emergency medical technicians, or
firefighters) to respond to emergency incidents in a defined area.  Examples of
SSDs might exist in the following areas:

• Infrastructure (e.g., oil, power)
• Institutional (e.g., correctional facilities, hospitals, universities)
• Manufacturing (e.g., automobile, chemicals, electronic components)
• Military
• Private sector first responders (e.g., private fire and emergency medical
services [EMS])
• Transportation (e.g., airports, rail, ports)
• Entertainment (e.g., amusement parks).

Each of these areas has SSDs with unique needs and regulatory drivers with regard
to the provision of public safety services.  Some SSDs contain significant hazards
that may compel them to hire a complement of first responders to address these
hazards.  However, regardless of the size of the SSD public safety force, a large
enough or catastrophic emergency event may require the assistance of other public
safety agencies.

Public safety agencies, whether municipal government first responders or SSD first
responders, work for different organizations but have many common
responsibilities, such as the delivery of medical or safety services.  In
providing these services, they all use land mobile radio (LMR) systems to
communicate, which is the focus of this report.  Given the critical role that SSD
first responders play in the outcome of emergency incidents of all types, the
Public Safety Wireless Network (PSWN) Program recognized the need to learn more
about SSDs, and more specifically, to examine their communications interactions
with other public safety agencies.

Communications between public safety agencies at an emergency scene is a critical
issue because it allows for better coordination and safer operations.  Better
coordination can translate into lives and property saved.  The ability for one
agency to communicate with another public safety agency, seamlessly and in real
time, is referred to as interoperability.  Because planning for and fostering
interoperability between wireless networks is the mission of the PSWN Program, the
program commissioned this report to gain a better understanding of
interoperability between SSDs and other public safety agencies.

This report is unique in that the program is not aware of any other study that has
specifically targeted communications between SSDs and other public safety
agencies.  It should be noted that the program does not presume interoperability
is required between SSDs and other public safety providers; that is a decision the
SSDs and other public safety officials must make in the best interests of the
community.  However, in light of heightened security concerns at all high-profile
locations, it is critical that SSDs and other public safety agencies coordinate
and discuss communications issues prior to a major emergency event.

In an effort to cover a cross section of SSD segments, the program selected a
variety of SSDs to include in the report.  Table 1-1 provides a listing and a
brief description of the SSDs targeted for the data collection.

Full Report:
 http://www.pswn.gov/admin/librarydocs12\SSD_Interoperability_Report.doc

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