Port Security Applied Policy Project - Belfer Center for Science and ...

Problem 3:
Incompatible Communications Systems
“The Pentagon incident [on September 11, 2001] demonstrates in a very public way how
critically important communications capabilities are for public safety agencies. Imagine
the challenge of 50 different local, state, and federal public safety agencies responding at
the Pentagon – 900 different radio users, operating on multiple radio systems, and
attempting to communicate with one another.”
–Public Safety Wireless Network (PSWN) Program Manager 142
Interoperable communications technology has been one of the most publicized
suggestions for improving emergency response since the September 11, 2001 terrorist
attacks. Studies have suggested that many deaths inside the World Trade Center could
have been avoided if the firefighters had radios that allowed them to hear transmissions
from NYPD helicopters outside reporting that the towers were about to collapse. 143 A
similar recipe for disaster exists at the port complex because the various public safety
agencies maintain different communications technologies and do not currently have a
plan in place to facilitate communication between first responders.
BACKGROUND
Interoperable radio communications require three areas of compatibility. First, agencies
Table 2: Emergency Response Agencies Use
Different Communications Technologies
Frequency Spectrum Agency
800 MHz (Digital) Los Angeles Police Department
Los Angeles Port Police
UHF (Analog) Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department
Los Angeles County Fire
Department
Los Angeles Fire Department
Long Beach Police Department
Long Beach Port Security
Long Beach Fire Department
VHF (Analog) US Coast Guard
HF (Analog) California Highway Patrol
Source: Analysis by PSAPP
must operate in the same frequency
spectrum or range of frequencies.
Commonly used frequency bands
include UHF, VHF, and HF.
Second, radios must use the same
signal type, either analog or digital.
Third, even if the spectrum and
signal type match, radios must share
a common channel. As shown in
Table 2, the various agencies
involved with emergency response
at the port complex use several
different types of communications
technologies. Agencies that operate
in different frequency spectrums
142 Public Safety Wireless Network, “New Report Details Public Safety Radio Communications at
Pentagon on Sept. 11th,” PR Newswire, 1 February 2002.
143 “As police and firefighters swarmed the [World Trade Center] searching for survivors, incident
commanders outside were hearing warnings from helicopters circling the scene from above that the towers
were beginning to glow and were dangerously close to collapse. Radio communications were a lifeline for
the hundreds of police officers who received the word to evacuate the building – all but 60 police officers
escaped with their lives. Tragically, hundreds of New York firefighters didn’t receive that warning because
they were using a different communications system.” National Task Force on Interoperability, Why Can’t
We Talk? Working Together to Bridge the Communications Gap to Save Lives, February 2003, 4.
56 Department of Policy Studies, UCLA School of Public Policy and Social Research