DENVER-The Denver Police Department and the Consolidated Communications Network of Colorado each used the 71st annual Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International show here last week to showcase their successes in public-safety communications.
DPD demonstrated its M/A-COM Inc.-built radio communications system, which serves Denver and a portion of the suburban area, while the CCNC touted the growth and efficiency of its Motorola Inc. system, which serves much of the rest of the state.
Though there have been and still are political tensions over network technology decisions between the powers behind the CCNC and the DPD, the two networks are interoperable.
“Sixty-five percent of Colorado’s population is served by Denver’s M/A-COM platform,” said Dana Hansen, superintendent of communications at the DPD. “We’ve been working with MA-COM since the late ’80s, and they’ve really grown with us. They’ve helped us provide interoperability to many disparate systems.”
The solution provides DPD with Internet Protocol-based communications.
“M/A-COM’s NetworkFirst system uses advanced VoIP technology that will enable us to connect all of the public-safety agencies in our area and handle more than 200,000 different talk groups, which officers can access at the push of a button,” said Hansen.
Denver’s radio network provides interoperability to Denver International Airport, located 18 miles east of Denver; the city of Boulder, located 30 miles northwest of Denver; and nearby suburbs Aurora, Lakewood, Westminster and Wheat Ridge.
Hansen said the DPD is in the midst of expanding its network thanks to a hard-won grant from the Homeland Security Fund. The expansion is set to include areas to the north and west of Denver, including Longmont, 38 miles northwest of Denver, and the Evergreen Fire Department, about 29 miles west of Denver.
The M/A-COM booth showcased the network’s infrastructure, lots of handheld mobile devices, a DPD squad car and motorcycles from Aurora and Lakewood.
Motorola hosted an early morning meeting to talk about its support of the CCNC, a digital-trunked radio network created in 2002 by Douglas and Jefferson counties, along with the state. During the meeting, Douglas County Sheriff Division Chief and CCNC President Mike Coleman demonstrated the network’s efficiency, talking by radio to several first responders all over the state.
Today, the network supports 20,000 subscribers from more than 400 federal, state and local agencies.
“We’re in talks with agencies in Utah and Wyoming about joining the network,” Coleman said.
Coleman also talked about the CCNC’s relationship with Motorola, which Coleman thanked for helping re-route signals from a fire-threatened tower during the 2002 Hayman Fire in Douglas County, about 25 miles southwest of Denver, thought to be Colorado’s all-time worst fire. “Motorola really stepped up, and they did it quickly. We didn’t end up losing our tower, but if we had, Motorola wasn’t going to let us lose our ability to communicate,” Coleman said.
During a later interview, Coleman was passionate as he explained how the network had enhanced communications during emergencies, allowing first responders from different counties and hospital emergency rooms to communicate seamlessly. “We forget to thank the people behind the scenes. Technical geeks are heroes too,” Coleman said.
