Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Cash crisis leaves emergency communications network incomplete

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 07 Dec 2003 14:49:06 -0500

Tuesday, November 25, 2003
Cash crisis leaves emergency communications network incomplete

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- A statewide effort
to improve communications among police
officers, firefighters and other emergency
personnel has run out of money, leaving 37
Indiana counties without technology
needed to talk to one another.

In some cases, equipment is sitting in
police departments and warehouses
virtually untouched because Project
Hoosier SAFE-T is incomplete.

When the project began in 1997, state
officials promised a state-of-the-art
communications network to allow
emergency responders throughout Indiana
to talk to one another -- a crucial need
during disasters such as floods and
tornadoes.

State law-enforcement officials say most
police, firefighters and emergency personnel use separate communications
networks, making it hard to
communicate in a crisis.

SAFE-T is designed for both analog and digital radios, so a firefighter or local
police officer can talk
directly to a state trooper.

So far, $28.7 million has been spent on the system. In 2002, legislators
approved another $10 million
annually in driver's license fees until 2019 to help maintain and expand the
network.

But state police say they still need about $35 million more to finish the
project. However, many
legislators are upset over how the money has been handled and are not inclined
to spend more.

Motorola is supposed to build or find 126 communications towers to develop the
system across the
state, but there is only enough money for 68 of them.

http://www.thetimesonline.com/articles/2003/11/25/news/region_and_state/c240e2a9acda278d86256de800815c08.txt

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