10Meters News Service

February 8, 2002 – When the 2002 Winter Olympics officially open tonight in Salt Lake City, public agencies will be working with a beefed-up radio communications game plan.

The radio communications strategy, coordinated by the Public Safety Wireless Network (PSWN) Program, involves a coalition of local, state, and federal agencies that are collaborating to provide emergency personnel with greater interoperability.

Working with the Utah Communications Agency Network, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, and the Department of Justice, the PSWN program led the interconnection of three major communications systems to provide connectivity between the agencies' dispatch consoles. Multiple agencies across the northern part of the State of Utah can now communicate using existing equipment.

"The lack of communications interoperability – the ability of public safety personnel from one agency to communicate via radio with personnel from other agencies, on demand and in real time – is a critical public safety problem that is not unique to the Salt Lake region," said PSWN program manager Rick Murphy. "Studies show that across the nation, public safety officials have trouble communicating in operational situations one-third of the time."

The Olympic solution provides the radio infrastructure support for emergency response, statewide operational centers, and disaster preparedness. In addition, it allows multiple agencies across the state to use existing equipment, minimizes costs, and accommodates upgrades in the future.

The PSWN Program, a joint initiative sponsored by the Department of Justice and the Department of the Treasury, brings together public safety officials from local, state, federal, and tribal governments to increase wireless interoperability among the nation's fire, law enforcement, and emergency medical services departments.