First responders should use service agreements for telecom equipment

First response and law enforcement organizations should consider establishing service agreements with telecommunications providers that would allow them to quickly upgrade the handheld radios they use during emergencies, said former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff during a panel discussion on Thursday.

Typically, law enforcement agents and first responders, including firefighters and emergency medical technicians, buy new radios when existing equipment becomes obsolete, according to the former secretary in the Bush administration. The practice leads to officials who respond to emergencies using outdated equipment that cannot communicate with other emergency response systems.

"There is money out there, but the key is to spend the money wisely," said Chertoff, who is now chairman and managing principal of his consulting firm, Chertoff Group. "It can't be, 'Let's scrap all we have and buy fresh.' That would be an exorbitant way to deal with the problem."

First response organizations should change their purchasing models to pay for service, which would result in a lower investment over a longer period, rather than equipment, he said. As technology changes, "you can swap out [equipment] because you're paying for use of the product rather than the product itself," Chertoff said.

This is similar to how telephone companies charge for services, in which consumers pay a minimal fee for the handset, but enter into a contract for the necessary services, he said.

"New models are necessary, and will actually advance technology more quickly," said John Vaughan, senior vice president of public safety communications for federal contractor Harris Corp., which sponsored the event at the National Press Club in Washington. "If we begin churning the technology, there's a constant opportunity to provide more advanced" equipment.

Chertoff also said jurisdictions could migrate current equipment to the latest capabilities. "You want to exploit the existing architecture, whether wireless, Internet or radio, and either bring in equipment that allows you to bridge over differences in frequencies or work around incidents of a total failure of communication," he said.

The latest technology allows different types of devices to talk to one another through switches that allow users to use different radio frequencies but still communicate. In July 2009, DHS announced a pilot program to test radios that would allow emergency responders on different frequencies to communicate with one another during crises. To improve border security, DHS and the State Department announced on Wednesday that senior officials on the U.S.-Mexico High-Level Consultative Commission on Telecommunications have signed a bilateral agreement to support a cross-border voice, data and video communications network.

"This is a good thing," Chertoff said. "The challenges will be to make sure everybody is trained, the machines themselves work, language issues are addressed and governance [is established]. Who gets to talk to whom? What codes are used? If DHS can make sure these elements are implemented, then we'll have the ability to reduce some of the risk that's elevated at the border with respect to violence over the last couple of years."