Sep 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Nathan Hiester

When a presidential candidate comes to town, you have to be able to move fast

Twelve hours before presidential candidate Barack Obama was scheduled to speak at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, public-safety officials asked the nearby Beavercreek Township Fire Department to provide communications support for the event. Six public agencies across two jurisdictions would be supplying personnel and resources, and our job was to link mobile communications between them.

Given the disparate radio systems of the agencies involved, the short notice could have presented a major interoperability headache. But thanks to careful development over five years, a team approach and the right technology, the event proved to be an exceptional demonstration of our communications response plan's capability to support incident command.

Key to our response plan's success was funding through an Assistance to Firefighters Grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in 2003. Resources provided by the grant enabled us to spend the last five years developing and refining our plan with a focus on communications interoperability. The resulting plan combines a three-person team concept with customized mobile radio gateways using radio control over IP (RCoIP), an advanced technology that permits remote control and monitoring of radios over an IP network connection.

The three-person team provides expertise in the critical areas of communications leadership, operations management and mobile radio technology. Team members include one officer with incident command experience as a communications leader, one operational technician who understands the general operations and how communications play into them, and one volunteer amateur radio technician. Over the last five years, the fire department has developed a bank of career-level personnel prepared to fill the first two roles through a selective process of interviews, aptitude testing and training.

The communications unit leader must have the ability to anticipate the needs of incident command and be prepared to present plans and options quickly. An officer with command experience can fill this role nicely. Although the person in this position doesn't need to understand the technical workings of the interoperability equipment, he should have a clear grasp of the resources and capabilities available through the team. We have found it beneficial for this person to be present at briefings and have a solid line of communication with the command staff.

Operational experience is a must for the role of operations technician, which should be filled by a senior-level person who can understand new technology. This person will help develop communications plans for the command staff and be an integral part of bridging the gap between command's needs and the available technology. This person must have a solid understanding of operational scenarios and how communications capabilities can affect them. This person also should be able to think logically and technically in order to troubleshoot problems. The choice of technology is critical to this role. Our RCoIP solution is simple to implement and adjust, reducing both the training time required and the operations technician's ability to respond quickly and effectively to the dynamic needs of public safety.

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