Stop static on interoperable radio system plan

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Stop static on Rockland County interoperable radio system plan

A Journal News editorial

(Original publication: June 30, 2007)

Rockland county has jumped through hoops to get municipalities and first-responders on board to put together a countywide emergency radio system that better fits the emerging needs of Rockland and is far more reliable than what we have now.

On Tuesday, the Legislature is due to vote on bonding for a deal with Motorola to build an interoperable system. The upgraded radio system would allow direct communication among first-responders of different agencies. Currently, some must rely on a central relay to get messages to each other. Not only must legislators push the project through, municipalities and first-responder agencies should pledge to join the effort.

Rockland officials have already had to lobby the Federal Communications Commission once to be allowed to hold onto frequencies that lay fallow because the project has taken so long to launch. It's a use-'em-or lose-'em deal - if the county doesn't show progress on the system, it won't be allowed to keep the licenses for the new frequencies it needs to operate it.

Still, there is foot-dragging as deadlines loom for the radio project, most of it from lawyers who want contracts that put all liability for the radios on the county. How much more responsibility does the county have to take for a system that will benefit us all? Rockland already has agreed to cover the costs and has altered parts of the agreements at towns' requests.

Weak links risk safety

This system needs the full support of every municipality and emergency response agency. Rockland has seen events that revealed weak links in the current low-band communications network. When a fuel tanker truck slid down a ramp connecting Interstate 287 to the Thruway in Suffern in 1995 and began leaking its hold, Rockland emergency officials had to borrow radios from New Jersey in order to coordinate a shutdown of roadways and commuter train lines while they cleaned up the mess and avoided a fiery explosion. The communications system was overwhelmed during Hurricane Floyd in 1999.

Unforgettable is the tragic cost of poor communication modes between New York City police and firefighters on Sept. 11, 2001. That problem had been identified during the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, but went unsolved, contributing to the loss of life in the later terror attack.

Any countywide undertaking - evacuating one part of the county to another, for example - would be stymied by the current system. Myriad scenarios, beyond a natural disaster, demand the capabilities of an interoperable system. Most of the county is within 20 miles of New York City and the Indian Point nuclear facility. Rocklanders also have a major mall and a key highway bridge in our front yard.

It's time to join in the hard work done by County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef and county Fire and Emergency Services Coordinator Gordon Wren Jr. to realize a radio system that will make the county more secure and Rocklanders safer.

A Journal News editorial