Cover Story

What happened?

By Donny Jackson (donald.jackson@penton.com)

Much-anticipated ISSI solutions are in the marketplace and seem to be working as advertised, but the adoption rate is much slower than most public-safety communications officials expected....

Features

You can take it with you

By Larry LeBlanc

Vehicle-area networks are allowing road warriors to accomplish more than ever before....

Clipboards are a thing of the past (with related video)

By Mike Parker

Digital signage helps a sheriff's department keep its personnel informed and its inmates moving through the system....

Interoperability made easy

By Ira Wiesenfeld, P.E., and Christopher Dalton

The national tactical channels are available to most under a blanket license....

First Word

You can’t fix stupid — but you can punish it

By Glenn Bischoff (glenn.bischoff@penton.com)

Efforts have been made to educate the American public regarding the proper usage of the 911 system. While most have mastered the nuances of three-digit dialing, many still seem unclear on when to actually do so. ...

View from the Top

Why RPCs are essential

By Stephen Devine

Regional planning committees consist of volunteers from the first-responder community and are focused on ensuring that spectrum is available to those agencies that want to use it under the guidelines established by the RPCs....

Final Word

Realism is needed

By Alan Tilles

Numerous politicians across the country are assuming that they no longer need to fund public-safety LMR systems, because all communications are going to move to the new broadband system. There are several flaws with this position....

Dispatches

Committee leaders express support for D Block reallocation

By Donny Jackson

In the Senate, Lieberman and Collins wrote a joint letter to the Super Committee that called for authorization of incentive auctions, reallocation of the D Block to public safety and network funding, while the House Homeland Security Committee was even more formal in its support. ...

FCC takes widespread enforcement action against jamming-equipment retailers

By Donny Jackson (donald.jackson@penton.com)

Twenty online retailers in 12 states must cease sales of illegally marketed signal-jamming devices or face significant fines, according to recent action taken by the Federal Communications Commission’s enforcement bureau. ...

Intrado announces THOR Shield mobile 911 program (with related photos)

By Donny Jackson (donald.jackson@penton.com)

Intrado yesterday launched its Tactical Homeland Operational Response (THOR) Shield, a mobile 911 emergency-communications program designed to help public-safety answering points (PSAPs) maintain operations when their call centers are down or overwhelmed by traffic in crisis situations....

Gear

Scout UAV gets new wrinkles, investment from Datron (with related video)

By Glenn Bischoff (glenn.bischoff@penton.com)

The Scout unmanned aerial vehicle now sports Flir’s Tau 320 and Tau 360 infrared cameras in its payload and features longer propeller and rotor arms. ...

Samsung unveils high-definition video-surveillance cameras

By Donny Jackson

Enterprises wanting to leverage existing coaxial-cable infrastructure to support high-definition video have a new option. ...

DHS demos cell phone-based chemical detector (with related video)

By Mary Rose Roberts (maryrose.roberts@penton.com)

Cell-All is a unique environmental sensor and application for cell phones that enhances personal and public safety, explained a DHS S&T spokesperson....