[Ccarc] Public Safety

Tue Jan 1 22:25:49 EST 2008

Here is a thought provoking article.....some interesting points....but assumption is made that Hoosier SAFE-T interoperable radio system is a cure-all......it is not....it has it's weak links...including information overload for dispatchers...if you are hearing everyone else's radio traffic...and other potential network glitches.  Liability laws will  also likely need to be changed.  Just food for thought. 
Tom  KB9WSL

It's time to do what's right for the people

									INDIANAPOLIS
— There are real people out there .... Those words from Jeff Gillaspy,
my editor at the Elkhart Truth, were ringing in my mind once again as I
took note of the awful news of a Carmel mother and her three daughters
who slipped off a snow-covered road and into a pond. Batul Abbas had
enough time at 9:34 p.m. Dec. 15 to call 911 as the family mini-van
slipped into the dark, 8-foot-deep waters.

The first Carmel Fire
Department units arrived at 9:38 p.m. But Carmel has no dive team. The
Fishers FD has a dive team at Geist Reservoir, 12 miles away. It got
its first call for help at 9:41 p.m. It wouldn't be until 9:53 p.m.
that the first family member was pulled from the van by Carmel
firefighters. The Fishers dive team wouldn't arrive until 10:01. 

There
are three dispatch centers in this cluster of suburban cities in
Hamilton County — at Carmel, Noblesville and Fishers. They listen to
each others radio traffic, but they do not respond until the primary
agency calls for help.

Twenty-two minutes after the first call —
and a minute before the Fishers dive team arrived — the last of the
Abbas children was pulled from the van. By the next morning, 8-year-old
Azmeh, 14-year-old Shaail, and 18-year-old Shazreh would all be dead.

A witness, Carlos Castaneda, told WRTV-6 news that the scene was "heart-wrenching."

I
write about this tragedy because in Recommendation #5 of the
Kernan-Shepard Commission, in its efforts to reform local government,
simply states, "Create a countywide body to oversee the provision of
all public safety services." It notes that there are 1,150 local
government police and fire departments. "This complex and overlapping
web of local government units and service arrangements increases the
overall costs of these services and has the potential to affect citizen
access to critical services when minutes matter."

When minutes matter.

It
goes on to state, "Moreover, inequities exist within this complex
system. A number of local governments are too small or dispersed to
provide an acceptable minimum level of police and fire protection in
isolation."

Now, when I think of isolation, I think of the
further reaches of places like Jackson County, or the lakes region of
Steuben and Noble counties, or the winding roads outside of
Lawrenceburg. The fact that "isolation" can come in a retention pond in
Carmel, or Westfield or Noblesville — some of the highest-growth cities
in the state — is sobering.

The report from former Gov. Joe
Kernan and Indiana Supreme Court Justice Randall T. Shepard goes on to
say, "Better coordination of public safety services across local
governments has enormous potential to provide improved service, equity
of service and responsibility for costs and cost saving as the result
of economies of scale relative to administration, staffing, training
and equipment."

Specifically, it calls for a county or regional
911 dispatch, fire suppression and emergency medical services.
Kernan-Shepard recommends that this new entity be chaired and
administered by a single elected county executive. "We proposed that
the county executive and the mayors be given voting authority. In the
event that there is no included city, the town with the largest
population should have voting authority."

Kernan-Shepard urges —
with citizen input — new local service standards within 18 months. "We
also strongly recommend exploration of collaboration or consolidation
with adjacent counties."

In Recommendation #6, Kernan-Shepard
calls for consolidating emergency public safety dispatch by county or
multi-county region, with all dispatch using the Project Hoosier SAFE-T
statewide 800 MHz communication system.

Quoting from the
Commission's report: "Public safety is a critical component of
effective public safety services. Local emergency public dispatch
services are fragmented among municipal and county departments. Not
surprisingly, citizens and policymakers often mention that such
services are ripe for consolidation. Dispatch technologies that utilize
geographic information system should resolve many of the limitations
that previously may have warranted separate systems. Historically,
public safety agencies have been unable to communicate with each other
during significant events such as tornadoes."

Or, perhaps, when
a mini-van with a mother and her three daughters slips into an icy
suburban retention pond that on a normal day, seems just an arms reach
away.

There are real people out there.

Minutes matter.

Be
thinking of these two thoughts when you press your local and county
officials to unclench their fiefdoms and turf, and do what's right for
the people. 

The reaction to the Kernan-Shepard report has been
mixed. Some legislators are saying they will be "too busy" in 2008 to
deal with anything other than property taxes. Rep. Dave Crooks is
urging a summer study committee. But State Sen. Mike Delph, who
represents the district where the Abbas family died, will introduce
legislation that will bring many elements of Kernan-Shepard to debate
in 2008.

I urge every legislator and Gov. Daniels to consider
putting Recommendations #5 and #6 on the people's agenda in January. If
your state representative or senator still doesn't have the time, you
can file your candidacy for the May primary between Jan. 22 and Feb.
22. Sometimes it takes a new mindset to make common sense changes.

Capt.
Ron Lipps of the Fishers FD, told WTHR-13 news after the Abbas family
tragedy, "It's just a matter of whatever their system prompted for that
response type as to how and when we got called out."

Is that good enough for you? It wasn't for the Abbas family.

Brian Howey is publisher of Howey Politics Indiana. He can be reached at www.howeypolitics.com
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