Public Safety Communications
Customer Perspective
Mobile PSAP Hits the Ground Running
“9-1-1 on Wheels” Puts Command and Control
at the Scene of an Emergency
Floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, chemical
releases, fires, terrorist attacks—faced with a
multitude of threats, many public safety
agencies are placing greater emphasis on
contingency plans and hedging their bets by
investing in backup 9-1-1 centers. Typically
stationed at a remote location, these backup
PSAPs are ready to swing into action should
the primary PSAP be knocked out for whatever
reason. Moreover, during a large-scale
emergency they can be activated to provide
the main 9-1-1 dispatch with overflow capacity.
An emerging trend among public safety
providers is to put the backup PSAP on
wheels. Commonly referred to as Mobile
Communications Centers, these multi-purpose
vehicles function as a backup PSAP, or as a
supplementary PSAP during large-scale
emergencies. They also
provide a “command and
control” outpost that can be
driven right to the scene of a
large-scale emergency or
public event (such as a state
fair) that might require the
coordination of multiple public
safety agencies.
Built on a school bus chassis, the Jasper
County Mobile Communications Vehicle is a
self-contained communications center that can
be driven to the scene of a large scale incident.
"The 9-1-1 board was interested
in killing two birds with one stone
by creating a vehicle that doubled
as a backup PSAP and a mobile
command and control center."
Rolling PSAP:
The March 1998,
Advantage featured a profile of the Jasper County E91-1 dispatch in Carthage, Missouri. This state-of-theart center became fully operational in July of 1997 and
is equipped with five positions of Zetron’s IntegratorRD
Radio Consoles. The dispatch center is housed in a
specially designed, earth-bermed, tornado-resistant
building. Even with such a secure structure, the Jasper
County Office of Emergency operations recognized the
value of having a backup PSAP.
“The board was interested in creating another level
of redundancy,” explains Ron Boyer, Executive
Director of 9-1-1 for Jasper County. “ Originally, we
had an SUV that we used to do GPS addressing. We
also used the SUV as a makeshift incident and
command vehicle, but it wasn’t really big enough. The
9-1-1 board was interested in killing two birds with one
stone by creating a vehicle that
doubled as a backup PSAP
and a mobile command and
control center.”
The communication room
is equipped with two
Model 4010s.
Building a better bus:
Rather than purchasing a ready-made solution,
Jasper County chose to build its own vehicle from the
ground up. It began by purchasing an old bus that had
been converted to a mobile schoolroom. The first step
was to reskin the interior walls with dry erase boards
for quick and easy note taking and to soundproof the
vehicle with carpet. A 13-kilowatt generator was
purchased to supply electrical power, but finding a
place to put it initially proved troublesome. Finally, an
ingenious solution was arrived at—the generator was
located under the vehicle, which necessitated creating
a ducted cooling system. The next step was to install
the radio and telephone communications system that
would be the heart of the vehicle.
Radio Communications Services (RCS) of
Springfield Missouri installed Zetron IntegratorRD radio
consoles in the primary PSAP back in 1998. This made
them the most logical choice to equip the county’s new
bus. RCS installed all the radios, antennas and a pair of
Model 4010 Radio Consoles.
“We chose the Model 4010 mainly for its simplicity,”
explains Steve Ruch, General Manager of RCS’ Joplin
office. “They were trying to save as much money as
possible while still getting the same basic functionality
as they had in the primary PSAP. The Model 4010 was
able to do that. Plus it’s easy to set up or reprogram if
they need to make changes down the road, and it takes
up less space. Now they can tone out all the fire
departments, take calls, and dispatch just like the 9-1-1
center.”
Command and control:
The finished vehicle is over 40 feet long. The usable
work area inside is 31 feet. In addition to a
communications room where the two Zetron consoles
reside, there is a command room, a kitchen, a
bathroom and an equipment room for radios and
telephones.
“We went a little unconventional on the command
area of the vehicle,” Boyer says. “Most of these types of
vehicle are set up with a mini conference room area,
which we’ve found aren’t really conducive to unified
instant command. For us, a commander should have a
place to sit where he can write things down to keep
track of units and have radios close at hand so he can
talk to units in the field. In our command center, the
surrounding walls are all erasable white board so a
commander can write just about anywhere. There’s
room for two to three commanders to sit together, and
all the communicators are just an arm’s length away.”
Get your kicks:
The Jasper County Mobile Communications Vehicle
was first rolled out on June 18th. It didn’t spend much
time in the garage, however, because the very next day
it was driven over to the county fairground for the Route
66 Festival, a large 4-day concert. This annual festival
attracts larger crowds every year (around half a million
in 2002) that come to attend performances by major
country and rock bands such as Lynrd Skynrd and Joan
Jett.
“In the past we had to borrow the Department of
Public Safety bus for the State of Missouri,” Boyer says.
“The state has three of these buses, one of which was
used this year by the Sheriff’s department. They
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2002. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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handled the local law enforcement side of things. We
had our vehicle there and handled EMS and fire
dispatch. Boy it was nice not to keep bumping into each
other, because that’s a lot of people to pack into one
vehicle. It worked out very well. We had virtually no
problems at the Route 66 Festival this year, and I think
it was due to the fact that we were so well prepared.”
Next stop for the big bus:
Currently the Jasper County Mobile
Communications Vehicle has two operator positions,
but Director Boyer explains that the vehicle is a work in
progress and there are plans to add a third operator
position and make more enhancements.
“When we’re done, we’ll have virtually the same
functionality in our Mobile Command Center as in our 91-1 center,” Boyer says. “Most of the radio work is
done. Next we’ll add phone and computer via VoIP
(Voice Over Internet Protocol) to link up with our fixed
9-1-1 center. When the vehicle is completed, it will be
capable of plugging in at any of the area police
departments or the two county PSAPs. Hopefully, we
will be able to hook into half TAPS placed by the local
Telephone Company so that phones can be re-routed
right into the vehicle. Along with full radio capability
we’ll be able to take over 9-1-1 call answering from the
fixed PSAP.”
Future plans:
On the mechanical end of things, a 58-foot
extendible mast sits atop the vehicle. This carries a
microwave radio dish that will be pointed at the local 91-1 center to maintain a radio link. Also atop the mast is
a pan-tilt-zoom camera. A TV/VCR combination inside
the vehicle gives the incident commander a set of eyes
60 feet up in the air so he can oversee and record
activities as the scene of an incident.
“Once this is all functional, we will be able to use
VoIP to connect directly to our network so operators at
our 9-1-1 center can see events going on in the bus
and vice-versa. It will also provide computer network
flow as well as phones so we can access our data
bases.”
The effect will be as if the Mobile Command Vehicle
is physically a part of the Primary PSAP.
Communicators on the command vehicle will be able to
pick up a phone and dial an extension to talk to the
primary PSAP.
Disaster-ready:
Plans call for the Mobile Communications Vehicle to
be stored in an underground warehouse, or similar
secure location. Between its state-of-the-art primary
PSAP housed in a reinforced, tornado-proof building
and its rolling PSAP, Jasper County should be able to
weather just about any disaster, no matter what form it
takes.
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005-7325A
January 2003