A shooting and mass casualty incident in San Francisco, interdiction of narco traffickers entering the country, and attacks in a casino resort. Repeatedly we are provided examples for the requirement of integrated communications. Gruesome as the real life examples may be, we see in the nightly news how first responder organizations with sophisticated and comprehensive support systems are able to react immediately with aide to those urgent situations that come with virtually no warning.
After an event has begun with a tragic incident the response systems go into high gear, as operators and emergency responders begin to coordinate and share information. Because we can never know when and where the incidents occur we must be ready to react, we must be able to communicate, and we must collect and share data in real-time. Lives are at stake.
A comprehensive system-of-system allows multiple agencies to coordinate over emergency communications channels using any platform. Imagery, video, and voice data is collected and analyzed as the collection occurs. No time to wait! Authorities must be able to process information from several sources immediately to be able to make life-saving decisions.
What organizations require this capability? The easy answer is Homeland Security, National Defense and First Responders from Federal, State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Organizations. The complete answer would include Vacation Resorts, Schools, Universities, Subway Systems, Shopping Malls, and Sports Complexes. Surprised? I bet you are not!
