Board set to fund emergency communications plan

An ambitious plan to create a unified regional emergency communications network comes before the Board of Supervisors next week.

The system has a long name—the Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communication System, or LA-RICS—and a crucial public safety mission.

Supervisors are set to approve a spending item authorizing an initial $17.7 million budget for the system’s first year of operation. Participants in the system include the county, the city of L.A., and 81 of the county’s other 87 cities.

The budget will be managed by the county and a Joint Powers Authority established last year to develop a stable, shared communications infrastructure supporting more than 34,000 first responders and associated personnel in the Los Angeles region. The proposed budget provides $7.761 million to cover staff positions, contracts, a lease agreement and administrative overhead, and $10 million for a cash advance for the hardware and software components.

In 2001, the nation witnessed the tragic and catastrophic result of interoperability failure when hundreds of first-responders to the 9/11 attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Center found themselves unable to communicate internally among themselves and externally with other agencies. The 9-11 Commission Report specifically cited the New York Port Authority Police Department’s inability to communicate effectively as a key reason there was no overall coordination of a timely and effective response when the first plane struck the North Tower. The report also noted how the NYPD’s communications frequencies were simply overwhelmed after the collapse of the South Tower less than two hours after the initial attack.

Posted 7/29/10