It’s All About the #@#$% Comm!

Response to Don Jewell’s August 27 Military & Government PNT newsletter, online at www.gpsworld.com/comm.

I believe this message would be echoed wherever you have folks deployed in the field, trying to do things. It’s particularly relevant to law enforcement and public safety where interoperability is probably their number 1 problem.

I know lack of effective comms was identified as the number 1 problem when we did a requirements analysis for U.S./Canadian Integrated Border Enforcement Teams (IBET), and this lack definitely impacted any potential solutions we looked at for blue-force tracking or other situational awareness (S/A) technologies to address other needs. The differences in regulations, even transitions in cell coverage along the border, only aggravated the problem. Your column was very good, and I look forward to seeing the Perfect Handheld GPS Transceiver (PHGPST) device info as you relate it. There is significant interest in this in the law enforcement and public safety community.

— Ed Freeborn
Geographic Information Analyst
L-3 Communications, Rome, New York