Region now using new communications police equipment

The New York City Fire and Police Departments learned the lesson during 9/11. Deep East Texas Emergency Responders learned it during the Columbia Disaster. Deep East Texas as a whole learned it again during and after Hurricane Rita. The lesson is that interoperable communications, quick and easy communications between different types, and frequencies, of radios and other communications systems, can be critical to a successful response during an emergency.

"If you will consider why they were created, and how they were funded, it is understandable that communications systems were designed to serve specific agencies, departments, bureaus, commissions and forces," said Deep East Texas Council of Governments (DETCOG) Executive Director, Walter Diggles, "but during large scale emergencies, things go much smoother if everyone responding can talk directly to everyone else."

Communications systems that allow everyone to talk to each other are a high priority for the Department of Homeland Security. Although the individual counties and cities have been using their Homeland Security funds for radios, command posts and portable radio repeater towers, it was all designed to work with equipment that would allow them to quickly and easily communicate with each other.

The critical element of the new system are the InfiniMUX G4 communication gateways that DETCOG has installed at sheriff's and police departments in all of its twelve counties. These computerized devices allow the dispatchers to receive calls from different types and frequencies of radios and quickly route them to other radios.

In late March the system was tested in a Regional Interoperable Communications exercise based in Lufkin. The Polk County Mobile Command Post was setup at the Pitser Garrison Civic Center as the Incident Command Center and was operated by personnel from Livingston PD, Lufkin Fire, Lufkin PD and the Angelina Sheriff Department. The Jasper County Mobile Command post was sent to the Angelina County Expo Center, staffed by personnel from Jasper County, Jasper PD and the Lufkin Fire Department, to provide communications for the staging area. Personnel from all twelve DETCOG counties, several cities and other agencies came to the staging area to take part in this exercise and demonstrate their ability to conduct communications using the VHF mutual aide frequencies. Nacogdoches County and City set up their mobile Command Post as part of this exercise.

"I am extremely proud of all the people in this region, and our staff, that has been working on this." said Diggles,

"Many large cities are saying it will take another ten years to get to the level of interoperable communication the DETCOG counties and cities have achieved. It has taken a lot of planning and commitment to make this happen this fast."