DHS tests multi-band, interoperable radio.

• Author: Wright, Austin
• Position: TECHWIRE - Department of Homeland Security - Brief article

* The Department of Homeland Security has entered the final stages of its four-year, nearly $9 million effort to develop a multi-band radio that can communicate across virtually all public-safety spectrums.

The lack of interoperable public-safety radios has been a high-profile issue since the federal government released the 9/11 Commission Report in 2004. The report said that in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks, police departments struggled to coordinate their response plans because their radios weren't compatible with other departments' communications systems.

Local, state and federal agencies, along with the Defense Department still use radios that operate on different--and non-compatible--frequencies.

DHS has picked 14 public-safety agencies that will test and evaluate the new multi-band radio. The evaluators will use the radios for at least 30 days and will then provide feedback to the department.

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"If this capability had existed on 9/11, 1 think we could have saved a lot of lives," says Tom...