Many public-safety communication professionals around the country are not familiar with the Department of Homeland Security National Emergency Communications Plan (NECP), according to a survey by Herndon, Va.-based CDW Government. However, a majority of respondents to the survey, once briefed on NECP, were optimistic about its chances of success.
Published in 2008, the NECP recommends a multi-faceted approach to strengthening emergency communications capabilities nationwide, focusing on technology, coordination, governance, planning and training at all levels of government. Only half of public-safety communications professionals were familiar with the NECP before CDW-G's survey, though, once they were told about the plan, 93 percent said the NECP has the potential to address their communications issues. "Every day, communities across the United States are affected by communications challenges — inability to communicate across agencies, across jurisdictions, during routine events and during significant incidents," said CDW-G Vice President Bob Kirby in a statement. "Formal plans to meet the NECP goals, backed by training, cross-agency and cross-jurisdiction collaboration, and technology infrastructure, can speed emergency response and save lives."
In other findings from the survey, 28 percent of respondents said they experienced a communications challenge in the last year that hampered a response effort, and 61 percent said the ability to achieve and sustain seamless communications across jurisdictions and agencies is their No. 1 challenge to providing timely and effective emergency services.
The NECP sets the following goals:
- By 2010, 90 percent of all high-risk urban areas designated within the Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) are able to demonstrate response-level emergency communications within one hour for routine events involving multiple jurisdictions and agencies.
- By 2011, 75 percent of non-UASI jurisdictions are able to demonstrate response-level emergency communications within one hour for routine events involving multiple jurisdictions and agencies.
- By 2013, 75 percent of all jurisdictions are able to demonstrate response-level emergency communications within three hours, in the event of a significant incident as outlined in national planning scenarios.
A copy of the complete CDW-G Emergency Communications Report is available at www.cdwg.com/emergency
