The Associated Press
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- Three years after incompatible communications hampered Sept. 11 rescue efforts at the World Trade Center in New York, California counties and cities continue to use different radios, different airwaves and different coded languages, according to newspaper reports published Wednesday.
The failure to create a communications system in which different emergency response agencies can easily talk to each other could prove costly, and even deadly, in the event of a terrorist attack or natural disaster, The Oakland Tribune and Los Angeles Daily News reported.
Without compatible radios, most state and local emergency response teams are likely to lose precious time trying to share information and coordinate their efforts. During a major earthquake or urban fire, that type of delay and confusion could mean lost lives.
The 9/11 Commission recently concluded that incompatible or inadequate communications slowed emergency response and were a major factor in the loss of life in almost every major U.S. attack, including 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and the 2002 Washington, D.C.-area sniper attacks.
In the San Francisco Bay area, the Tribune attributed the failure to develop an integrated communications system to a mix of incompatible technology, turf battles and bureaucratic inertia.
The Bush administration and state officials have encouraged local agencies to create common radio systems, but they haven’t offered a strategy for compatible radios, even though California has a history of disasters and communication problems. That leaves local agencies uncertain about whether to invest in new radios, repeaters and towers.
Both the Clinton and Bush administrations have failed to deliver on demands for standards for common radio communications. Two years ago, top Bush aides told a Bay Area expert that they’re “not in the business of forcing industry” to share radio-industry software secrets, even if they keep first responders from talking to each other.
Meanwhile, cities and counties -- focused on budget shortfalls, everyday problems and maintaining control of their own forces -- have been slow to build joint radio networks.
Creating a more integrated communications system isn’t easy.
Police and rescuers have limited airwaves for talking, and open frequencies are hard to find without bumping into cellular, television or other public safety transmissions. New radio systems cost tens of millions of dollars, and agencies face a bewildering array of radio technologies, none universally accepted.
Meanwhile, some agencies have paid millions for radios tailored to their narrow needs, and fear losing authority by moving to a larger, integrated system.
And at a time of shrinking budgets, terrorist attacks are a lower priority for local officials trying to keep firehouses open and police officers on the payroll to deal with everyday crime.
Despite the difficulties, Bay Area emergency radio managers have started to talk about building a network of shared, common radio systems that would allow an immediate, coordinated response at the flip of a switch.
In Los Angeles County, officials have spent $6 million to buy equipment that gives some public safety agencies a limited ability to talk to one another in the event of a terrorist attack. Officials there hope voters will approve a sales-tax increase in November to help purchase a state-of-the-art system that allows all first responders to talk to one another during a disaster.