Agenda - 08-16-2005-5o - Laserfiche WebLink

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CAPS Interoperable Communications Technology Grant Program COPS Interoperable Communications Technology Grant Program Program Description The COPS Office received up to $90 million to award technology grants for the enhancement of inferoperabie commuhjcations across the nation The COPS FY 2005 Interoperable Communications Technology Grant Program will be coordinated with the Office of Justice Programs, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and SAFECOM, a program in the Office of Interoperability and Compatibility The program will be open to bosh voice and data Interoperabilityprojacts One of the major issues facing the emergency services sector is the inability of emergency service workers, including traditional "Orst responders," to communicate with one another when the need arises These emergency first responders have Idng been defined-as the "first arriving organized responders with the capability and mission to contain, mitigate, and resolve the emergency at hand "' Their effective and efficient emergency response requires coordination, communication, and sharing of vital Information among numerous public safety agencies As articulated in the National Strategy for the Physical Protection of Critical InfrasWctures and Key Assets,'mostsystems supporvngemergency resporse personnel, however, have been specifically developed and implemented with respect io the unique needs of each agency"' Sdch specification without consideration of the need for interoperability complicates the ability of those agencies to effectively communicate with others in the future This fact is echoed by the public safety community in the National Task Fome on Interoperabllityceport Why Can'f We Talk? Working Together To Bridge the Communications Gap To Save Uves' Effective information sharing between law enforcement agencies is critical to protecting our communities from traditional crime and violence, and far investigafing, preventing, and responding to terrorist threats As stated by the Integrated Justice Information Sharing (IJIS) Ins6lute, "During the past 30 years, the lack of standards for linking justice infdmiation systems has been responsible far a substantial part of the high costs involved wish information exchange and has contributed signiilcan0y to the associated difficulties of exchanging information between justice agencies °' For many years, law enforcement agencies have had to rely on information systems developed by companies using propdetary telecommunications and data standards Customized interfaces and data formats have bean required to facilitate information exchange between propdetary and incompatible systems Successful data exchange is greatly improved by (he development and adoption of standards that enable transparent interoperability of disparate systems The best way to accomplish this is to improve the effectiveness ofjustice and public safety functions by applying information technologies to facilitate the exchange of information Extensible Markup language (XML) is a technology that was created for this purpose XML is generally recognized as an enabler for increasing the sharing of information, and has emerged as a key technology for assisting commercial and government organizations in exchanging information and conducting business over the Internet and intranets XML is the "glue" that promotes data interoperability - it allows systems being developed to communicate with each other and enables future expanded collaboraiion between agencies i "Emergency First Responder Report' Federal Emergency Management Agency, 11 S Fire Administration 'January 1381 2 "National Strategy for the Physical Protection of C,dticai InfrasWetures and Key Assets," The White House Febmary 2003, page 43 3'Why Cant We Talk? Working Together To Bridge the Communications Gap To Save Lives,' AGILE Program Fehmary 2003 4 "Technology considerations in the development of integrated justice data exchange standards' IJIS Institute May 2001 33