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Committees Hear Update on Statewide Radio System
Service Moving Toward 80
Percent Coverage of Commonwealth
HARRISBURG -- Pennsylvania's
statewide emergency radio system covers about 80 percent of the Commonwealth,
but lagging delays and cost overruns pose serious concerns, said members of the
Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee and the
Communications and Technology Committee as they stressed that efforts must be
made to get the complete system up and running as quickly as possible.
Speaking during a joint
hearing of the two Committees in the Capitol Tuesday, Senator Don White,
Chairman of the Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee, said the
succession of hurricanes this summer and fall emphasize the need for
Pennsylvania to have a statewide communication service.
“The events of this year
make it abundantly clear that Pennsylvania must continue to expand its ability
to provide statewide alerts to citizens and to provide guidance and assistance
to emergency responders during natural or man-made disasters,” Senator White
said. “Emergency services, such as the statewide radio system, are like
insurance policies. Nobody really wants to spend a lot of time thinking about
them. But during a time of crisis, we are definitely thankful that they are
there. We need this system up and running at full capacity as soon as
possible.”
Senator Rob Wonderling,
Chairman of the Communications and Technology Committee, said Pennsylvania
should use all available resources to ensure that the statewide radio service
meet the diverse needs of all of the agencies that use it.
“This system interlinks the
State Police, PEMA, the Department of Health and many other agencies,” Senator
Wonderling said. “Therefore, it is incumbent that we continually look toward
incorporating the latest technology into the service as a way to not only meet
the needs of the state agencies, but to enable intercommunication with emergency
responders at the local level as well.”
Officials from the
Governor's Office informed the Committees that about 80 percent of the
Commonwealth is covered by the system, with a goal of having coverage reach 95
percent by November 2007.
Pennsylvania's current
system averages 707 voice users and 893 data users daily. The voice users
include employees at PENNDOT, PEMA, the Attorney General's Office, the
Department of Health and the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. The
State Police are the primary users of the data network.
“By December there will be
1,327 mobile data terminals, commonly known as mobile office units, in patrol
vehicles statewide,” said State Police Lt. Col. Henry D. Oleyniczak. “These
data terminals are used for various lookups in state and federal criminal
databases as well as PENNDOT inquiries.”
PEMA Director James R.
Joseph stressed the need to give constant attention to the Commonwealth's
planning and preparedness efforts.
“Pennsylvania has been
recognized for having one of the finest emergency management programs in
America,” Joseph said. “Given the challenges we face as a nation, it is
imperative that we continue to harness the resources of modern technology as an
important tool within our overall preparedness program.”
Paul Beatty, Director of
Indiana County Emergency Management and the Chairman of the Communications
Committee for the Southwest Regional Counterterrorism Task Force, said
interagency coverage in Western Pennsylvania is hampered because the many
jurisdictions use a wide variety of communications systems.
“Realizing that the State
800 Radio System in Western Pennsylvania has not been fully built out to the 95
percent mobile coverage specifications within each county, there have been some
limitations of counties to communicate effectively on the system,” Beatty said.
“As the system has been built out, these limitations have been improving. The
Radio Project Office has been meeting with several of the southwestern counties
over the past months on possible shared tower sites as they continue to build
out the system.”
 
Don White
Wonderling
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