Chairman's Remarks, APCO International’s 4th Annual Public Safety Communications Leadership in Policy Awards Dinner
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
(WASHINGTON) - Rep. Bennie G. Thompson(D-MS) delivered the following prepared remarks to to the APCO International’s 4th Annual Public Safety Communications Leadership in Policy Awards Dinner. The Chairman is the recipient of the Leadership in Legislative Service Award.
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"Given my 26 years as a volunteer firefighter and 39 years of continuing public service – I know first hand that the need for improved emergency communications is not new.
Whether we are talking about the everyday emergencies or the tragedies of the Oklahoma City bomb detonated by homegrown terrorist Timothy McVeigh; the September 11th attacks by al-Qaeda; or Hurricanes Katrina and Rita – the same story emerged.
That is why I pushed for passage and the enactment of the Katrina-reform bill that created the Office of Emergency Communications.
When I assumed the Chairman’s post of the Committee on Homeland Security, I pushed for the passage of H.R 1 – which you know implements the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.
In H.R. 1, I included a section that would create, for the first time, a $1.3 billion stand-alone interoperability grant program at the Department of Homeland Security.
To date, DHS has provided $2.9 billion to local and state governments to help them improve interoperable communications.
During the fiscal year 2003 to fiscal year 2006 period, State and local governments spent 89% of the funding on equipment.
In order to make sure that the grant program is both fiscally responsible and accountable, I put in a requirement that the grants can only be distributed after the development of the National Emergency Communications Plan.
It is important that we have all the stakeholders at the table developing a national vision to improve the Nation’s emergency communications capabilities.
Emergency responders need to share vital voice and data information across disciplines and jurisdictions to successfully respond to day-to-day incidents and large-scale emergencies.
The Administration and DHS officials have testified that the cost of achieving interoperability will cost in the tens of billions to $100 billion.
My home state of Mississippi will need a minimum of $400 million to be fully interoperable.
More than 90% of the public safety communication infrastructure in the United States is owned and operated at the local and state level.
Therefore funding is needed to improve coordination, training, and planning across many jurisdictions to achieve interoperability.
According to Project SAFECOM at DHS, interoperability directly impacts the first responder community which consists of over 61,000 public safety agencies including
960,000 Firefighters
830,000 EMS personnel
710,000 Law Enforcement Officer
It is because of my personal experience as a first responder and as an elected official that I take these numbers very seriously.
Clear, concise, and consistent guidance will ensure that State and local governments understand how to spend the grant dollars on emergency communication.
Such guidance will also ensure that every emergency communications-related grant agency in the Federal Government has incorporated the same criteria for agencies receiving Federal funds for interoperable communications.
The bottom line is that we cannot just throw money at interoperability – we have to approach this in a strategic way.
The Federal government must show leadership on this issue if it is going to tell State and local governments that they need to enhance and improve their emergency communications capability.
In closing, there must be leadership by all the key stakeholders to sit down and develop the plans necessary to create effective nationwide interoperable communication standards.
Thank you for this award."
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FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Please contact Dena Graziano or Adam Comis at (202) 225-9978.
