Using a PowerPoint presentation for impact, Durant explained the condition of the existing network and the upgrades he felt were necessary to move into the future.
“The Decatur County Public Safety Network is operating on outdated and incompatible software and hardware that often fails,” he said. “That is disrupting emergency communications and operations among the five primary public safety agencies: the Decatur County Sheriffs’ office, Decatur County Crisis Management, Decatur County Emergency Management, the [Greensburg] Police Department and the [Greensburg] Fire Department.”
Describing the existing network as relying on a “patchwork of informal agreements and individual agency funds,” he said it was “inefficient, ineffective and costly” and that “the lives of first responders and citizens are at risk when communications are disrupted or fail during emergencies.”
“How did we get here?” he asked the assemblage rhetorically. He answered his own question, citing that Decatur County has simply outgrown their existing system and stating that no one in any of the five organizations involved has the appropriate training to address or troubleshoot any issues that arose with the current antiquated system.
Durant explained that Decatur County and the City of Greensburg’s core networks are running on equipment installed in 2006 and 2012.
He also told the commissioners that, at times, the dated equipment simply doesn’t interface well with modern software and is non-compliant with with state and local policies.
“These threats include social engineering, ransomware, network intrusions, etc,” he said.
Durant said the fix should be coordinated equally by all five public safety offices, new equipment with appropriate support should be purchased, the new equipment must interface with the new jail infrastructure, this equipment should be able to connect with the public safety network currently being used by the 911 system, and a set of disaster plans should be adopted across the board for all networks in the county.
Proving he had completely investigated all courses of action and understands the issues, the sheriff proposed short- and long-term solution scenarios.
“For a short-term solution, we can continue using the existing system(s), relying on a casual network of previous and current employees to fix any issues that arise on their own time. We can also continue to wait, sometimes for several days until those issues are fixed,” he said.
For the long-term solution, Durant proposed the hiring of an employee to maintain the system who would be available 24 hours a day seven days a week, and adopting a centralized technology management plan that addresses the needs of all the agencies, now and in the future.
Durant proposed that this new employee should be funded equally by Greensburg and Decatur County funds and should report to a board of the department heads of the five public safety agencies.
Along with hiring a network administrator, he proposed the purchases of basic employee computers and any “specialty tools” necessary as identified by that administrator. He explained that any repairs and upgrades should be funded by the relevant agency budget.
Durant proposed this new position be paid $100,000 per year with a benefit package worth approximately $32,000.
Durant said the existing system could completely collapse during an emergency, resulting in the serious injury or death of a first responder or a private citizen due to the faulty communication system now being used.
When asked if he had ever been involved in an instance where a public safety network had a major catastrophic failure, Durant said. “I can’t answer that, but I know we don’t want to find out what happens in that instance.”
©2019 the Greensburg Daily News (Greensburg, Ind.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
