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Public Safety Issue Briefs

This series of six Issue Briefs addresses best practices and key topical issues related to public safety communications interoperability. The series is published by SEARCH under funding from the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Interoperable Communications Technology Program (ICTP). The intended audience is recipients of COPS Office ICTP grants, as well as attendees of COPS ICTP conferences and workshops and other COPS grantees. However, any justice and public safety agency undertaking an interoperability project will also benefit from the information provided in this Issue Brief series.

Issue Brief #1-Disaster Planning and Recovery: 9-1-1 Center Survivability
This Issue Brief takes a look at what has been learned about 9-1-1 communications center survivability since Hurricane Katrina, and offers insight into what we might expect and what we need to be thinking about to assist 9-1-1 centers to respond to and recover from major and catastrophic events that affect 9-1-1 operations.
Issue Brief #2-Communications in the Incident Command System
This Issue Brief presents background on communications within the National Incident Management System and its Incident Command System. It examines the role of communications within these constructs, as well as in the context of multi-agency response to disasters and emergencies. It concludes with operational best practices for effective use of incident communications units.
Issue Brief #3-Building a Regional Communications Plan
A key step in integrating technology and operational requirements is building a regional communications plan. This Issue Brief presents the basic steps in building such a plan to improve interoperability and, ultimately, joint response to emergencies.
Issue Brief #4-Interoperable Communications Training and Exercises: Creating Processes, Tools, and Techniques
Communications is not an independent element of emergency response that can be adequately exercised and evaluated in isolation. It is through integrated exercises that communications can be trained in context, tested, evaluated, and set for continuous improvements. These will assist your agency or region in becoming better prepared to prevent, respond to, and recover from a real-world incident.
Issue Brief #5-Performance Measurement and Interoperability
This Issue Brief defines interoperable communications, performance measures, the SAFECOM Interoperability Continuum, and provides predictive modeling/statistical measurement solutions. It presents an overview of how these concepts could be combined to develop a solution for performance measurement and interoperability.
Issue Brief #6-Project 25: The Quest for Interoperable Radios
Project 25. Few terms have been more closely associated with the quest for communications interoperability among public safety agencies. But what exactly is Project 25? Where did it come from and where is it headed? What is its value to public safety agencies and technology managers? This Issue Brief attempts to answer those questions, providing background and current information for decision makers who may be considering use of radios and radio systems built around standards that have arisen from the project.