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

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Program to pay for two 800 MHz tower sites for the county on the State's Voice Interoperability Plan for Emer gency Responders (VIPER) The VIPER, network is a statewide system that local 'emergency response agencies may participate in which is based on an 800 MHz trunked radio system. Orange County's current problem is that, while the PSAP has legal access to the system, the dispatch center cannot presently dispatch on the 800 MHz band due to the existing consoles This is impeding efforts to bring local law enforcement and emergency services agencies onto the 800 MHz VIPER platform to allow them to communicate with one another Unless the dispatch center's equipment is upgraded, emergency service units will not be able to be dispatched to 9 -1 -1 emergency calls on this system, nor will the dispatch center be able to receive information from those emergency responders, such as in cases of life - threatening situations Law enforcement agencies of the County, towns of Hillsborough, Chapel Hill, and Carrboro, as well as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Police, and UNC Hospitals Police would directly benefit from these grant funds to create an interopetable communications system in the county, as well as all 11 fire departments in the county, Orange County Emergency Medical Services, Orange County Emergency Management, Orange County Rescue Squad, South Orange EMS and Rescue, and Orange County Public Health The Public Safety agencies in the various communities making up the Research Triangle area who have been users of 800 MHz (Wake and Durham Counties) have a coordinating organization known as Triangle 800 MHz Emergency Network (TR8EN) Ihis organization was established in the mid 1990's and coordinates interopetability between radio systems and PSAPs IR8EN establishes standard mutual aid talkgroup assignments and operational procedures to insure interoperability More recently, Orange, Person, and Chatham counties have become active in TR8EN This giant will enable the MSA agencies to further the incorporation of the IR8EN interopetability to additional agencies not currently participating The State of North Carolina is establishing a statewide voice radio network on 800 MHz known as the Voice Interoperability Plan for Emergency Responders network (VIPER network) This giant will greatly increase the ability of the participating counties to interoperate with state agencies via the VIPER Network the events of recent years involving hurricanes and flooding in various areas of the state called for a high level of mutual aid, often far from home radio systems The interopetability provided by the VIPER, network has shown itself to be a valuable capability This giant will result in many vital public safety resources having access to this interopet ability network. B. Project Goals and Objectives The goal of this cooperative grant is to improve interoperable communications on a macro level within the Metropolitan Statistical Area by addressing local projects that have a wide impact on counties within the MSA. the primary goal of this project is to provide a high level of radio interoperability to agencies that currently lack such capability. Orange County wishes to transition to 800 MHz The State of North Carolina 800 MHz statewide VIPER radio network will aid in this effort. The county has begun to acquire radios for use at 800 MHz. These will enable interopetability with the sever a] 800 MHz Public Safety systems already serving agencies in adjacent counties, and with state law enforcement bodies. Impeding this transition, however, is that the ()range County Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) utilizes console equipment that is over 10 years old, and is obsolete Additionally, the age of the equipment precludes patching between the various radio systems with 800 MHz. Funding is required to purchase new console equipment to reflect new technology and allowing our system to connect on the 800 MHz band. Once the upgrades are complete, the PSAP would be able to dispatch on 800 MHz, 2of9 Durham, NC MSA Interoperability Expansion Project FY 2005 COPS Interoperable Communications Technology Program