Collaboration Is More Important Than the Technology

The March/April issue of Emergency Management magazine is more technology heavy than previous issues and, thus, a common theme emerges from the stories.


The cover story, Law Enforcement Looks to Video Surveillance Networks, explores the technological advances that have spawned the deployment of large-scale surveillance systems across the country. A convergence of new technologies, the availability of homeland security grants and the availability of licensed 4.9 GHz spectrum for public safety created an ideal breeding ground for these larger wireless systems.


North Carolina and Virginia Law Enforcement Agencies Connect Via Internet Protocol-Based Solution is about local agencies in Virginia and North Carolina that are working to implement a permanent voice over Internet protocol-based solution that would link IP, non-IP and radio networks inside one system. The system would help during situations that police there find themselves in all too often: A suspect hightails across the state line, and communications between the states involves a less-than-ideal, time-consuming process.


Are Students Lulled Into a False Sense of Security with Messaging Systems? is a look at the advances college campuses have made to safeguard their students and faculty from tragedy, like the one that befell the Virginia Tech campus. Since the shooting at Virginia Tech, colleges have a multitude of choices when it comes to mass-notification systems.


But if you read deeply into each of these stories, you find a caveat. It's something you've read before in this magazine and will continue to read: Usually when you get to the crux of the issue, it becomes a people problem. The technology is available in most cases, but it's not a silver bullet.


In Are Students Lulled Into a False Sense of Security with Messaging Systems? the author cautions that just setting up a mass-notification system isn't enough. And in North Carolina and Virginia Law Enforcement Agencies Connect Via Internet Protocol-Based Solution, we read about a fantastic system that was held back until "radio people understood IP people." Law Enforcement Looks to Video Surveillance Networks explains the gifts of the technology, but cautions: These systems won't stop a criminal from committing a crime; the systems are only as good as the people monitoring them.


David Boyd spells it out in his online feature, Emergency Responders Need Equipment Compatibility, DHS Official Says: "Some emergency response agencies remain rooted in turf battles that make collaboration nearly impossible, while other agencies simply don't consider collaboration in their planning. Without collaboration, interoperability can never occur. Command structures, procedures, protocols and shared agreements must be established among regional agencies for responders to provide swift, coordinated support during incidents."


So what's the common theme? It's not technology, it's people.