Issue Brief 3 - Building a Regional Communications Plan

• NCJ Number: 224937
• Author(s): John F. Walker
• Date Published: May 2007
• Length: 8 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2004-IN-WX-K002
• Sponsoring Agency: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS)
• Corporate Author: SEARCH - National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics
• Sale Source: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS)
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Report (Technical Assistance)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Issue Brief of the COPS Interoperable Communications Technology Program, N 3, May 2007; downloaded November 26, 2008.

Annotation

This report presents the basic steps in building a regional communications plan that will improve interoperability, a critical aspect of effective communications among multiple and diverse agencies in a region involved in joint responses to a catastrophic incident.

Abstract

The building of a cooperative foundation for a regional communications plan must first address three basic obstacles to any cooperative effort: turf, agendas, and trust. The chief executives of each participating agency can address these obstacles by becoming informed about the importance of a regional communications plan and aware of the level of cooperation required to create memoranda of understanding and policies essential to the plan. In addition to addressing obstacles to cooperation, another step in building a foundation for a regional communications plan is to identify which stakeholders should be a part of the planning. The core stakeholders are the traditional first responders of law enforcement, firefighters, and emergency medical personnel. Additional stakeholders are agencies and personnel involved in emergency management, explosive ordnance disposal, HAZMAT, urban area search and rescue teams, transportation organizations, utilities, and State and Federal agencies that may respond to disasters. Other guidance provided for building a regional communications plan pertains to creating a written agreement, establishing a governance structure, and developing a concept of operations that supports a regional communications plan. Another feature of building a regional communications plan is the identification of existing communications resources. These include existing communications systems and equipment in the region, talk paths, and trained communications unit staff. Perhaps the greatest challenge, however, is the establishment of regional policies and procedures for participating disciplines and agencies that comply with the National Incident Management System. Other issues to be addressed are training/exercises and performance measurement.