The National Governors Association announced today that five states have been selected to participate in a policy academy on emergency communications interoperability. The states are Alaska, Hawaii, Illinois, Utah, and West Virginia.

“All governors share the priority of ensuring first responders are prepared and equipped for an emergency,” said Alaska Gov. Bill Walker (I.). “In Alaska’s vast and forbidding terrain, it is essential that all levels of response work together. This opportunity with NGA will help states plan for the constantly changing emergency communications landscape.” 

NGA said the interoperability policy academy “will focus on developing specific strategies designed to strengthen current statewide interoperability plans, including assessing governance structures and standard operating procedures. “An NGA policy academy is a highly interactive, team-based, multi-state process in which a number of states develop and implement a plan to address a complex public policy issue,” it added. “Participating states receive guidance and technical assistance from NGA staff and faculty experts, as well as consultants from the private sector, federal agencies, research organizations and academia.”

 Chris Essid, deputy director of the Office of Emergency Communications (OEC) at the Department of Homeland Security, observed at a recent meeting of the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council that a 2006 NGA policy academy lead to the creation of OEC, the National Emergency Communications Plan, and an interoperability funding grant program (TRDaily, March 25). – Paul Kirby, paul.kirby@wolterskluwer.com

Courtesy TRDaily