Agenda - 03-02-2006-5f - Laserfiche WebLink

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1s City of Durham Durham Police Department Durham, NC MSA Inter operability Expansion Project FY 2005 COPS Inter operable Communications Technology Program Project Narrative A. Problem Identification and Justification and Use of Federal Funds The Durham, NC MSA consists of Durham, Person, Orange, and Chatham counties Ibis includes the cities and towns of Roxboro, Hillsborough, Chapel Hill, Canboro, Durham, Pittsboro, and Siler City. The population of the Durham MSA is 451,212 (U S Census 2004 estimate) Public Safety communications in the Durham MSA is difficult due to the incompatibility of the radio systems operated by the many agencies the incompatibility of radio systems within the Durham MSA results in the inability of law enforcement officers to readily share pertinent information when they must interface with officers from a different jurisdiction, such as during pursuits, missing persons, and potential terrorism incidents The proposed project will achieve interoperability by transiting the Durham County Sheriff's Department and the Orange County Emergency Management/PSAP to 800 MIIz radio systems, resulting in a high level of interoperability where little currently exists Durham County Durham County has excellent interoperability with agencies in the Raleigh MSA due to the compatibility of 800 MHz trunked radio systems While most agencies in Durham County have migrated to an 800 MHz trunked system installed in 1994 and extensively upgraded in 2005, the Durham County Sherif'f's Department continues to operate on a conventional UHF system Ihis creates interoperability issues and diminishes first responder effectiveness within Durham County, Limited funding has prevented moving this large organization to 800 MHz. This grant will provide interoperability that currently does not exist, between the Durham County Sheriffs Department and other law enforcement, fie and EMS agencies in the Durham MSA, adjacent MSAs and statewide Orange County Orange County Emergency Management is the primary Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) and dispatch center for the County serving a growing population of 118,227 (2000 U S Census) The County PSAP dispatches for the municipalities of Hillsborough, Chapel Hill, and Canboro, providing citizens contact with the following services: eleven the departments, four law enforcement agencies, emergency medical services, and animal control. the PSAP also dispatches for emergency medical services and fire services to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Hospital The need for interoperable communications is extremely high for this area due to the diverse responsibilities of the PSAP and the nature of the community Also, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill contains at least one homeland security sensitive target that falls within the Buffer Zone Protection Program An attack on this target would create a huge need for communications interoperability due to the potentially lame human casualty impact if such an attack were ever realized. The current Orange County radio system utilizes discrete VHF and TTHF frequencies, which limits interoperability between public safety agencies To begin to remedy this interoperability problem, the county has requested and received funding from the 2004 Law Enforcement Ierrorism Prevention Iof9 Durham, NC MSA Interoperability Expansion Project FY 2005 COPS Interopemble Communications Technology Program