Public Safety Efforts Succeed in Washington, D.C.

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United public safety officials met with Vice President Joe Biden, who has been working on this issue since he was in the Senate. This photo was taken at a national public safety conference call held in February at the White House to explain the bill and recognize the key players. Included in the picture are Chief Johnson (Oregon), former IAFC president who took initial lead for the fire service, Chief Gillespie (North Las Vegas), current IAFC president, New York's own Chief McEwen, chair of the Public Safety Spectrum Trust, Chief Werner, chairman of the IAFC Communications Committee, and Commissioner Kelly, NYPD.

By Chairman Lee Shurtleff, NYSAFC Government Affairs Committee

NYSAFC board and committee members may recall a program at our spring meeting in 2007 that introduced us to the initial concept of a nationwide "public safety broadband network." At issue was an impending auction of 700 MHz radio frequencies then being vacated by television broadcasters (remember analog channels 60-69?) as they transitioned to digital operations, and a corresponding effort by cellular carriers to secure those frequencies for private business.

Chief Harlin McEwen (retired, City of Ithaca Police Department, former FBI deputy assistant director, and a longtime volunteer with the Cayuga Heights Fire Department in Tompkins County) explained to us that without an assignment of a large portion of that spectrum to public safety and a significant financial investment by the federal government, few responders would ever be able to employ within our operations then-envisioned technologies that now, five years later, we exercise in smartphones and other applications, such as text messaging, photographs, diagrams, and streaming video.

In an unprecedented move, essentially every national public safety group partnered with major governance bodies (governors, state legislatures, counties, cities, and managers) to pursue this vision. A coalition of public safety organizations established the Public Safety Broadband Trust and was awarded 10 MHz of the spectrum, and $1 billion was appropriated to launch interoperable emergency communications efforts across the country. The sale of an adjacent 10 MHz of spectrum for intended use by a private entity to create a "public – private partnership" with public safety, and thus a "backbone" network structure, never materialized, and that adjacent spectrum remained in play.

Two obstacles to the network seemed clear: deployment of broadband technology on a national basis, allowing for seamless roaming among other characteristics, would require dedication of bandwidth (contiguous frequency channels) that only this remaining spectrum appeared to provide if paired with the public safety allotment. And further, the likelihood of a private entity willing to invest and build out the necessary, "hardened" infrastructure to meet public safety communications standards proved impractical as that other spectrum remained "unsold."

Subsequently, the public safety organizations (fire, law enforcement, emergency managers, sheriffs, metropolitan chiefs, and others) formed a "Public Safety Alliance," and began a quest for both the remaining spectrum, known as the D Block, and federal support for the network.

Much transpired over the past couple years as this effort took hold in the capital, too much to describe here. Various bills were introduced, and ultimately, President Obama and congressional leaders in both parties agreed that the spectrum should be awarded to public safety, and conflicting resolutions found their way into the contentious payroll tax extension legislation that erupted in December.

While the Senate version most closely matched the alliance’s desires, the House of Representatives' version, while allocating the spectrum to public safety, contained unexpected provisions that if left within, would prove disastrous, including a "give-back" of the public safety-assigned 700 MHz narrowband spectrum now used throughout the country for voice radio communications, and creation of a network governance structure that seemingly excluded public safety oversight.

The D Block provisions were removed from the final "extender" bill that was effective for just two months, and congressional conference committees were formed to iron out the differences in all the remaining provisions, including a longer tax reduction extension and the spectrum resolution.

New York state influence seemed significant in that two house majority members were appointed to the Conference Committee, Representatives Tom Reed (Corning/Steuben) and Nan Hayworth (Westchester), and a rapid and robust effort was made by NYSAFC to reach out to both the negotiators and other representatives for their support. Congressman Reed, in particular, listened and studied the issue closely and was very helpful to the cause.

Following the vote by both houses, the president signed the payroll tax cut extension on February 22, which ultimately reallocated the 700 MHz D Block spectrum to public safety and will provide $7 billion in federal funding toward the nationwide network. Governance issues were also positively addressed.

As I have told many of you before, it is difficult for many in our line of service to understand and appreciate the issue of broadband and data communications when so many of us do all we can do to keep our land mobile radio systems operational in the face of narrowbanding, equipment obsolescence, and diminishing budgets. Yet, I can think of no other piece of federal legislation during my career that will have any longer-term impact on public safety than the D Block issue.

The future evolution and the roadmap for probably the next 30 years of public safety communications have, in a large way, been established this month. As LTE (long term evolution) and 4G technologies develop over time, and as private and public investments occur in the network, and as engineering provides for integration of voice and data transmissions, public safety will be able to reliably employ in much the same way the types of applications we enjoy now, and will in the future, with our personal wireless devices. And that was no small feat.

NYSAFC’s leadership and members deserve credit for their early, vocal, and continued support of both the national broadband concept and the legislative actions that transpired. Finally, the D Block issue demonstrates just what can happen when public safety stands united and participates together in the governmental process. Congratulations!