Karl Marx said that history is like the weather: Everyone talks about it but fewdo anything to change it. We may say the same about emergencycommunication gear interoperability since 9/11. Not any more. The GardenState is doing something about it by buying gear from a Reston, Virginiaveteran of interoperability solutions so that the state emergency units can talkto each other during emergencies. The State of New Jersey said it was puttingforth a plan to enable its first-responders to talk and coordinate at the scene ofan emergency within minutes, thus addressing one of the more vexing issuesfacing public safety and homeland security personnel. New Jersey’s Departmentof Law and Public Safety has purchased and deployed an initial order of twenty-one Incident Commanders’ Radio Interface (ICRI), one for each of the state’scounty emergency management agencies, with another twenty-one unitspending.
The ICRI, developed by Reston, Virginia-based Communications-AppliedTechnology (C-AT), is a small, rapidly configurable “bridge” which links typicallyincompatible UHF, VHF, and 800 MHz radio equipment used by differentagencies and jurisdictions. First responders will welcome this new feature: TheICRIs have been designed so they can overcome the problem of disrupted radiocommunications which may occur when more than one interoperability device isused during an emergency (as may be the case when different agencies rely ondifferent interoperability solutions). The use of more than one interoperabilitydevice locks up the bridges and radios connected to them, making themuseless. Equipped with Bridge Unit ID, the ICRI transmits a digitized speechmessage on all talk groups at preset intervals, identifying the unit and its ownerand agency. The ICRI can be operated and shut-off using through remotecontrol.
Seth Leyman, president of Communications-Applied Technology, said that “NewJersey’s model for ensuring interoperability across all of its localities on astatewide basis is very progressive…. Their coordinated approach alsoeliminates the costly problem of individual agencies buying inappropriate and duplicative equipment.”