Rep. Andrews Recognizes South Jersey Company for Receiving Federal Grant to Improve Law Enforcement Communications 

On Monday, October 29, 2007, Senator Robert Menendez and I will join representatives from Drakontas LLC to announce the selection of their company as a “Criminal Justice Communications Technologies Center of Excellence”.  On September 20, 2007, The
Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs announced the creation of four Technology Centers of Excellence that will serve as a specialized criminal justice technology resource for law enforcement and criminal justice practitioners. Each Center will provide expertise in a specific technology area and help introduce law enforcement technologies into practice within the criminal justice community. 

On Monday, Drakontas will formally open the doors for the Communications Technologies Center of Excellence, which will be located in Camden, NJ.

Drakontas, a Camden-based company is receiving over $3.6 million to establish the Communications Technologies Center of Excellence to test, evaluate and demonstrate cutting edge communications tools and technologies.  The Center will establish and manage a wide range of criminal justice pilot projects, involving software defined and cognitive radios, position location technologies, wireless data interoperability, and other communications tools and capabilities.  The team will also support a Communications Technology Working Group, and provide specialized communications technology assistance to law enforcement, when needed.

This newly established “Center of Excellence” will be located at the Applied Communications and Information Networking (ACIN) Center, which I helped establish in 2001 through the work of Drexel University as part of a broader initiative to promote economic development in Camden. Our vision when we created the Applied Communications and Information Networking Center (ACIN) back in 2001 was that it would help to create good paying jobs in the City of Camden by fostering growth in private sector companies that are looking to develop new technologies and products to be used in military and government applications. Drakontas was founded in 2004 to transition technologies developed at the ACIN Center by researchers at Drexel University for the Department of Defense to commercial, civilian and homeland security uses. Drakontas is a shining example of the type of success story we envisioned and I applaud Dr. Regli and his team for their hard work and talent in securing this important grant that will bring more jobs to Camden City and improve the ability for America’s First-Responders to communicate effectively. 

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