S - Grant - Application for U.S. Dept of Justice, COPS Program Technology Grant & Accept Grant Award

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SUPPLEMENTAL APPLICATION INFORMATION Orange County Emergency Management 2005 COPS Technology Grant Program I.. Project Summary Section A.. Assessment of Existing Problems Orange County Emergency Management directs and controls the 9-1-1 Center which provides emergency call taking, dispatch services, and criminal records lookup services for• the foar• municipal and county law enforcement agencies in the county. The current system operates on VHF and UHF frequencies that precludes agencies in the county to talk directly with one another and will not allow communication with state law enforcement agencies, such as the Highway Patrol. Further, other .emergency services departments such as fire departments, rescue squads, emergency medical services, and emergency management aze on disparate radio systems as well.. The current radio systems are also conventional systems, and are not franked, which leads to channel crowding and reduces access to telecommunicators in the 9-1-1 Center. This can result in serious threats to the health and safety of'law enforcement officers if they aze not able to radio for help in the event the radio channel is busy.. A franked radio system, like the one our• agency plans to upgrade to, will provide for an emergency button that the ofPicer~ can activate to gain immediate access to the radio to call for' help. There aze currently no provisions in place to allow law enforcement agencies However, such new technology is expensive and it outside of•the capabilities of our• county budget to upgrade in a timely manner.. Our' current budget is based on continuation/maintenance of'our conventional system and does not include the costs to upgrade to the 800 MHz system without some federal assistance. The state has implemented an statewide 800 MHz radio project upgrade that local governments can join, called the Voice Inter~operability Pian for' Emergency Responders (VIPER}.. The VIPER prnj ect entails the establishment of 800 MHz infr~astruchu•e (towers and repeaters) throughout North Carolina.. Local governments may purchase portable and mobile units to utilize on fhe system, and 9-1-1 centers may purchase 800 MHz consoles to dispatch on the system.. A substantial amount of'homeland security grant funding has been directed by the state to the infr~astructur~e upgrades. Orange County has duetted a large portion of its homeland security grant funding towaz~ds pux•chasing the portable and mobile units in anticipation of being able to access the 800 MHz system. However, no funding is available to upgrade the 9-1-