October 22, 2002

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - Representatives from the State of Michigan and four other Midwest states have met to create a consortium that will allow public safety agencies to coordinate radio communications systems across state lines.

The Midwest Public Safety Communications Consortium (MPSCC) was formed this year by law enforcement agencies in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio. Today’s meeting is the first of a series of meetings that is expected to create the nation’s widest area of interoperable radio communications network for police, fire and emergency medical service departments that would stretch from Zanesville in East Central Ohio to the Quad Cities in Illinois and from the Appalachian Mountains in Southern Kentucky to the Michigan Upper Peninsula.

Currently, each state is building a unified communications network that allows a variety of public safety agencies to communicate on a single state-of-the-art radio network. This approach will allow agencies near a jurisdictional border to communicate with their peers in neighboring states. This will result in improved front line public safety response to combat crime, enhanced coordination of initial response to traffic collisions and save lives though more efficient response to major catastrophic events. This effort will also serve to enhance the communications capability of the neighboring states in response to a Homeland Security event. It also reduces costs for local government agencies that join state networks.

"Crime and catastrophes don’t stop at the state line," said Col. Stephen D. Madden, Michigan State Police Director. "This is an extremely important use of our technology and will help us better coordinate tactical operations in state border areas, so we can catch criminals faster, prevent injuries and fatalities, respond faster to natural disasters, and enhance our homeland security efforts."

Recent studies have concluded that lack of public safety interoperability was a significant contributing factor to many casualties that occurred at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon during last year’s Sept. 11 tragedies.