Brought to you by WBIW News and Network Indiana
Last updated on Monday, July 21, 2008
(UNDATED) - Indiana is moving a step closer to enabling police and fire departments from different cities to communicate with each other.
The state will use $20 million dollars in federal grants to buy 5,000 emergency radios, enough to cover another 8% of the state's public-safety agencies. Two-thirds of the state's 60,000 first responders are already linked up to the Hoosier Safe-T Network. The latest grants will boost that figure to three-quarters.
Jason Hutchens with the Indiana Department of Homeland Security says the towers are already in place to support the new system, although some of the grant money will add seven more to fill in the gaps.
A unified radio network has been a state goal since the communication failures in New York on 9/11. Some of the money will go toward making local and state computer networks interoperable as well.
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