For more informa-tion or if you’d like a presentation for your organization, contact program director Mr. Dan Brown at dbrown@gsp.net

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Deployment of interoperability network produces many successes

Interoperable communication is a complex problem in Georgia because of the many types of systems and frequencies used by public safety and law

enforcement agencies. The Georgia Interoperability Network (GIN) pro-vides a “gateway” that connects callers using any kind of radio equipment. By the end of this calendar year, the network will be accessible to more than 95 percent of Georgia through 141 geographically dispersed sites, and the installation of the GIN will be completed with another 20 sites in the next year. To meet the interoperable communication needs of areas not covered by the GIN, the State has purchased two mobile communications units that can be deployed quickly to the sites of emergency incidents.

Now that the GIN implementation is nearly complete, project manage-ment has transitioned to the Georgia State Patrol, where SFC Jamie Sullivan provides scenario-based training and one-on-one consultation in how to use the system to local jurisdictions. Information on how to access his ser-vices and how to use the GIN, go to the program website at interops.com.

In this issue, we will share some of the success stories experienced to date in the use of the GIN through-out Georgia. To date, the system has proved useful to law enforcement and public safety agencies in responses to tornadoes, wildland fires, patrols of boat traffic on Lake Lanier, traffic man-agement, multi-county vehicle pursuits, and many other local events.

I’d like to extend my personal thanks to public safety partners who have helped to make this project a success. The continued support of these part-ners will be paramount in establishing effective standard operating proce-dures for the system.

–Dan Brown GIN Program Manager

Upcoming Dates to Remember

March 20, 2009Submission deadline for Georgia Homeland Security Grant Pro-gram application May 31, 2009Completion of Phase 3 and 4 implementations of GIN sites

December 2008 Volume 4, Number 2

After the 2007 Americus tornado, a State mobile communications unit helped responders stay in touch.

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Managing the crowds and the traffic that ac-company any large outdoor event requires

radio interoperability. The football games at Uni-versity of Georgia (UGA) and the summer holiday recreation at Lake Lanier are tailor-made for the benefits provided by Georgia Interoperability Net-work’s (GIN) Motobridge system.

In Athens, the problem is automobile traffic. Athens-Clarke County (ACC) police department believes the population of Athens nearly doubles on gameday. UGA’s Sanford Stadium has a capac-ity of approximately 93,000, making it the fifth largest facility of its kind in the country. Season attendance for 2007 was 1,026,656.

Many of those ticket holders bring family and friends that enjoy the festival-like atmosphere

Network benefits management of football, lake traffic

Continued page 4

without ever attending the game. To coordinate crowds of this size and the traffic that comes with them, ACC police, UGA police, and the Georgia State Patrol coordinate their efforts through the GIN Motobridge system. In Athens, they tie the VHF tactical channel (VTAC, a mutual aid fre-quency) to their system with Motobridge.

When ACC police moved to 800 MHz, the Georgia State Patrol stayed with VHS. Before the Motobridge was available, traffic control consisted across the systems amounted to a long game of message relay. “Officers on the street called their dispatch, had them call the dispatch for GSP, then if GSP had a question, they would have to call their dispatch to ask then to relay the question,” says Howell McKinnon, 800 MHz coordinator for ACC police. “We’d wanted it (the GIN) for years.”

In Athens, the problem is a huge crowd coming to a concentrated area. At Lake Lanier, the chal-lenge presented to law enforcement is the large geographic area that must be patrolled. With 39,000 acres of water, and countless more acres of recreation space along 692 miles of lakeside, Lake Lanier is always a popular attraction for boaters and swimmers in the summer. Georgia 400 and Interstates 85 and 985 provide easy access to the lake, which has around 8 million visitors annually.

On the 4th of July, Lake Lanier becomes a sea of

Motobridge system handles Carroll dispatch calls when regular system goes down

Last June, Carroll County lost two days of service for the telephone line that dispatch-

es fire rescue and emergency management calls.

The county was able to avert a potential emergency situation by using the Georgia Interoperability Network (GIN) as a backup dispatch system.

“The communications technicians used the GIN system to link the backup system into the 911 console system,” said Tim Padgett, direc-tor of the Carroll County Emergency Manage-ment Agency.

As a result, Padgett said, 911 dispatchers were able to remain at their console positions and make full use of the Dispatch Center’s communication resources. Operation of the Dispatch Center through the GIN system continued without incident for three days until regular telephone service was restored.

To Padgett, the incident proved that the GIN system offers more benefits than just interoper-ability.

Police are using the Georgia Interoperability Net-work to manage Sanford Stadium crowds

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Since 1999, the city of Cordele has

faced a challenge in managing crowds at its annual Easter Bash, an unorganized happening that attracts thousands visitors from throughout the South, bringing city streets to a standstill. One of the tools used by law enforcement agen-cies to manage crowds during this event is the Georgia Interoperability Network (GIN).

The Easter Bash began eight years ago, when a unorganized crowd of 5,000 con-verged on Cordele’s west side to continue the Freaknic celebra-tion that had occurred in Atlanta that week-end. The event brought traffic to a standstill and resulted in fights among participants and with local law enforce-ment. According to one police account of the first installment of this

GIN contributes to “Easter Bash” policing event, “Cars crept along Joe Wright Drive with persons openly consum-ing alcoholic beverages, standing atop shouting and dancing to loud music. Neighbors com-plained of the crowds, criminal behavior, mu-sic with profane lyrics, and gunfire.”

One reason for the city’s success in con-trolling the event has been the participation of numerous law en-forcement agencies in crowd control and traffic management. According to Col. Billy Hancock, chief deputy sheriff of Crisp County, the force responding to this year’s Easter Bash totaled approximately 150 officers from agen-cies. Participating jurisdictions include the Crisp County Sheriff’s Department, City of Cordele Police, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Georgia Department

of Natural Resources, Georgia State Patrol, the Georgia Motor Car-rier Compliance Divi-sion, Georgia Depart-ment of Pardons and Paroles, and Georgia Department of Correc-tions.

Coordinating the op-erations of such a multi-faceted force required an effective interoper-able communications network, and the past two Easters local au-thorities have provided this capability with the Georgia Interoperability Network site at Crisp County’s 911 center.

“It (the GIN system) has been very success-ful…in tying all of the participating agencies for coordinated traffic management,” Hancock said. “We were able to tie in Crisp County’s 800 MHz system with the VHF systems used by the responding state agencies. This allowed us to communicate with all units and coordinate officers to the locations where we needed them to be.”

“It (the GIN system) has been very suc-cessful… in tying all of the participating agencies for co-ordinated traffic management.”

–Col.Billy HancockChief Deputy Sheriff

Crisp County

The State is implement-ing sites in 911 centers throughout Georgia to provide interoperable communication for all kinds of radio systems.

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Continued from page 2

Managing traffic at big events with GIN...

On November 5, Forsyth County

police pursued a motorist in a high-speed chase that began in southern Forsyth and ended in the Roswell area of Fulton County.

Law enforcement from several jurisdictions had to work together to make this arrest, and they were able to do so through the Georgia Interoperability Network (GIN).

Brian Converse, Forsyth County radio and mobile data manager, works with personnel and radio systems from Fulton County, Roswell, Hall County, and Alpharetta.

“Lots of incidents that go down need it [interoperability],” he says. “All agencies involved share system keys with us, and we share a poll of radio ID’s. Guys are trained to know how it works.”

Situations like car chases point to a future in which real-time mobile data sharing is commonplace. “In a chase like that, you don’t have time to grab the radio, because you need both hands on the wheel,” Converse says. “Wouldn’t it be nice to see data flow real-time, as it comes across at dispatch, as the situation develops in real time. Then there’s

the next level: video.” By data sharing,

Converse means case records, record management systems, and other data an officer on a scene would typically need. “I think of a patrol unit as an office,” he says. “It needs all the functionality of an office.”

While car chases involving suspects provide an intense environment to test the boundaries of interoperability, it’s the day-to-day management of the public that provides the most common use of the GIN system. In Forsyth, the most frequent use is to

manage summer crowds at Lake Lanier.

The results of the coordination made possible by interoperability can be hard to quantify. The pursuit on November 5 ended when an officer from Forsyth County performed a pit maneuver, and the subject’s car came to rest in a creekbed. Several shots were fired, but no motorists or officers were injured. And while it may be hard to quantify how radio interoperability contributed to the safety of the public during the chase, it is clear that the number of officers able to respond and communicate clearly with one another brought the chase to an end more quickly than would have been possible with a scattered, disjointed effort.

have to respond to an emergency.

While the Georgia Department of Natural resources patrols the lake alone in the win-ter, in the summer the responsibility is shared by Hall, Gwinnett, and Forsyth counties. Hall is already on the same radio system with For-syth, and Forsyth uses radio interoperability to tie DNR and Gwin-nett in to their system. Brian Converse, manag-

er for Forsyth County, estimates that there are probably 25 to 30 radios in this interoper-able communications system.

For Marty Nix, 9-1-1 Director for Hall Coun-ty, the use of GIN sys-tem to manage events on Lake Lanier has become a routine part of the job. “Did it save any babies? I don’t know,” he says. “But I know it works because we use it all the time.”

GIN system useful in multi-jurisdiction car chases

“I think of a patrol unit as an office,” he says. “It needs all the functionality of an office.”

–Brian ConverseForsyth County

families, church out-ings, scout troops, and groups of friends look-ing to have a good time. Management of the traffic, boaters, and law enforcement around the recreation area requires coordination between multiple state and local agencies. As crowds swell in the summer, and the recreators con-sume alcohol, there is a high potential that the different agencies will