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Mayors Measure Interoperable Communication Between Cities, Regions, States and the Federal Government

The U.S. Conference of Mayors released its June 2004 Interoperability Report

The U. S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) recently released its 2004 Interoperability Report, which measures the reliability and effectiveness of communications systems between local city agencies and federal, regional, state and other local entities in responding to disasters.

The following statistics, included in the report, were gathered from 192 cities:

  • 77 percent of the cities report interoperable capability across police and fire departments and 74 percent report that they are interoperable with neighboring city police and fire departments.

  • 57 percent said that they do not have interoperable capability with the state emergency management agency.

  • 49 percent report that their city is not interoperable with the state police.

  • 80 percent of the cities say they do not have interoperable communications with the Department of Homeland Security or the Department of Justice.

  • 86 percent of the cities report that they do not have interoperable capability with the state transportation department and 94 percent do not have interoperable capability between the rail facility, police and emergency medical service.

  • 75 percent of the cities indicate that different radio frequencies hinder emergency communications between cities.

  • Cities with populations of 1 to 100,000 report a median interoperable communications system age of 8 years.

  • Cities with a population of 100,001 to 400,000 report a median communication system age of 11 years old.

  • Of cities between 400,001 and above, the median interoperable communications system
    age is 7 years.

  • Cities under 100,000 report an average of $4.7 million is needed to achieve full interoperability.

  • The average funding needed to achieve full interoperability for cities of 100,001 to 400,000 is $5.4 million.

  • Cities over 400,001 report an average of $30 million is needed to achieve full interoperability.