A riot breaks out at a local prison facility.  Instantly, area police and fire departments arrive on the scene to support corrections personnel.  They encounter a problem though: radio inoperability.  Because each agency's two-way radios are on different frequencies, they can't communicate.  That's a big barrier for people who are trying to work together to gain control of a crisis situation.  

"Basically, what has happened in the past and still [happens] today is the fact that first responders do not have the ability to communicate with other agencies through their current two-way radio systems," said H. Kenneth Edge, President of Aegis Assessments, Inc., which recently created a solution to this inoperability problem.

Aegis' newly developed SafetyNet Radio Bridge, through integrated circuitry, enables different agencies to interface with each other on their own two-way radios during an emergency.

"Through connecting them to our product, it enables us to bridge the voices so that they then have the capability of talking to one another," Edge said. 

According to Edge, in order to achieve this type of inter-communication between agencies, the participating entities, in the past, would have had to actually swap radios to get everyone on the same page.  With SafetyNet, however, up to 16 different radios from as many agencies can be connected, without ever having to trade equipment.

Hooking Up to SafetyNet

In order to communicate with other first responders, agencies need only attach one of their radios to SafetyNet, which resides in a stand-alone, portable, hard-cased, 15-pound unit.  According to Edge, getting the technology going is a simple process.

"It [is] a very lightweight, portable, easy-to-use piece of equipment," Edge said.  "We've designed it the simplest way we could so that, really, the only thing that an emergency responder would have to do is open the case up, connect the various radios from the various municipalities and really just flip a switch."

Once that switch is flipped, whoever is in charge of directing agencies during the crisis can determine which channels will broadcast certain information and who will have access to the various channels.

"We have five channels and [they] can set up any sort of protocol that they wish by selecting a channel," Edge said.  "Whoever is in control of the situation can say, for example, on channel one is all police chiefs, on channel two is all fire chiefs.  [He] can set up whatever protocol he deems necessary."

In addition to channels that are designated for certain personnel, one channel can be reserved for all communication so that every person responding to the situation can talk back and forth, Edge said.

Having this freedom to communicate aids different agencies in their effort to control a crisis, Edge said.  For corrections agencies, it can be useful during a riot, he added.

"If you have a prison riot [and] multiple agencies possibly could be involved, where the Radio Bridge comes in handy is it can very quickly enable us to utilize the radio from each agency that has responded," Edge said.  "[Connecting their radios] to our Radio Bridge [gives] either selective or open [lines] of communication to all agencies that have responded."

To Each Agency Its Own

While one SafetyNet Radio Bridge can connect radios from up to 16 different agencies, Edge thinks that it's the type of product that each agency would want to have on hand, in case there was a need to connect more radios.

"Our research in the marketplaces indicates that, most likely, each agency or municipality would want to have their own system," Edge said.

But once they buy that system, there is little need for them to update or modify it, he added.

"The [SafteyNet] Radio Bridge has an infinite life expectancy because if radios change the Radio Bridge still functions the same," Edge said.  "The only thing that we may have to readdress is the type of adapter that may be needed for the radio."

In order for an agency to connect one of its radios to the SafetyNet Radio Bridge, it requires an adapter, which is specific to the type of two-way radios the agency uses.

"When an agency orders the product, they get the stand-alone Radio Bridge and then they will specify to us what types of radios they use," Edge said.  "We manufacture the adapter that goes to their specific radio."

Including both the free-standing unit and the adapter, the SafetyNet Radio Bridge retails for between $20,000-22,000, according to Edge.  Many agencies, he believes, are interested in purchasing the product.

Improving Agency Readiness

"We've been in research and development [for] the last two years and now we're actually finished with our field testing and have entered into production because we've already had a very significant interest by a lot of large cities and law enforcement agencies," said Edge, who noted that the product was featured earlier this month at the Mock Prison Riot in West Virginia, where it drew a lot of attention from attendees.

Tim McFadden, a Project Manager for the Office of Law Enforcement Technology Commercialization (OLETC), which sponsored the Mock Riot in conjunction with the National Office of Law Enforcement Training and Technology Center, agrees that the technology could be a wise investment for corrections agencies.

"I think there's potential that some of the larger agencies would, in fact, purchase the device," McFadden said.  "The usefulness would be when multiple agencies were to respond to an incident at [a correctional] facility."

According to McFadden, in this post-9-11 society, it is important for all agencies, not just corrections, to invest in technologies, like the SafetyNet Radio Bridge, that can aid first-responders in the event of an emergency.

"I think it's important that every agency be prepared for situations where they have the technology ready if an incident were to occur," McFadden said.

Resources:

For more information about the SafetyNet Radio Bridge, contact Bob Williams at (480) 778-9140, ext. 108 or go to www.aegiscorporate.com

To contact Tim McFadden, call (888) 306-5382