A report released today by the Canadian Interoperability Technology Interest Group (CITIG) and the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC) cited challenges to cross-border public safety communications and recommended a number of steps to address them.

“The report is designed to clarify legal and regulatory policies, identify best practices and examples of interoperability excellence, and advance specific recommendations to enhance public safety communications at the national border,” according to a news release. “Cross border public safety communications is a complex issue that affects all first responder organizations which operate near the U.S. and Canadian border. The inability to directly communicate with other emergency responders puts both property and the lives of responders and the public they seek to protect at risk.”

“The inability to communicate across the borders is related to regulatory and technology barriers, disparate and proprietary technology solutions, and uncertainty as to whether agencies can legally execute mutual aid agreements and operational policy directives with sister agencies across the border,” the news release added.

The 61-page report includes a myriad of recommendations concerning governance, standard operating procedures (SOPs), technology, training and exercises, and usage.

For example, regarding governance the report recommends, among other things, identifying or establishing “a federal organizational body within Canada to coordinate with provincial entities to promote interoperability within Canada and across the border” and developing “model MOUs that are legally sufficient to codify relationships between U.S. and Canadian first responder organizations.”

Regarding SOPs, the report recommends working “collaboratively with the FCC and Industry Canada to understand existing regulatory processes and potential for improvements” and codifying “a radio technology standard for cross border voice communications to ensure reliable operations (e.g., when should analog be used, when P25 digital should be used, how should encryption be used, etc.).”

As for technology, the report recommends determining “available frequencies at the state/regional/provincial level to support cross border communications between U.S. and Canadian first responders. Ideally, a common interoperability frequency should be identified in both VHF and UHF bands to complement channels currently available in the 700 MHz and 800 MHz band.”- Paul Kirby, paul.kirby@wolterskluwer.com

Courtesy TRDaily

It Can’t Happen To Me!

On February 25, 2015, Northern Arizona went quiet. Cell phones and landlines did not work, cable TV did not work, and there were no connections to the Internet. This quiet period meant no 9-1-1 emergency calls, no credit card transactions for merchants, and no access to cloud-based applications and data. Service went down at noon and was partially restored to some in the area by 6pm but most had to wait until 3am for their service to be restored.

CenturyLink, provider of all these services, lost connectivity in one of its fiber routes to Northern Arizona from Southern Arizona and guess what? While CenturyLink is “planning” a second, redundant route, it is not yet in place so there is only one set of fiber cables running from south to north. To make matters worse, according to the police who are investigating, the cable might have been cut. We later learned the cable was in fact cut near a riverbed in an area that is not easily accessible by vehicle. Beyond that, the police won’t share any additional information. Continue reading →