Going Mobile
The city of Tempe, Ariz., has developed a portable, wheeled communications hub that enables the exchange of information among various emergency organizations.
The city used the 18-foot air-conditioned unit during the 2002 Fiesta Bowl to coordinate the actions of the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, city police, university police forces, and military bomb specialists. University police led the security effort for the game, which included examining the entire stadium for explosives before the start of the game.
The communications unit relies on a system called ACU 1000, created by JPS Communications, and previously available only to the armed forces. ACU 1000 allows multiple radio signals to be incorporated into various agencies’ receivers, irrespective of frequencies, bands, or platforms, says Mike Lindsey, communications network supervisor for the city’s Information Technology Department.
The communications hub also features long-range cordless phones that work inside buildings, unlike satellite phones that can operate only outside, and has text messaging.
However, agencies experienced some delays when between 100 and 150 officers relied on a single radio channel during a DUI task force mission, says Sgt. Bob Gage, who believes the system is best suited for keeping tabs on two or three agencies that complement each other, such as SWAT.
Lindsey estimates that the hub, if built from scratch today, would cost $180,000.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) fromGovernment Technology (07/03) Vol. 16, No. 9, P. 46; McKay, Jim.