Walker creates public safety network

Among the first initiatives for Utah's new governor is a wireless communications network to link public safety first-responders from Box Elder to San Juan County and everyplace in between.

In her first executive order, Gov. Olene Walker debuted her plan for Utah's Wireless Integrated Network — or UWIN — at a press conference in the state's emergency operations command center Friday. UWIN is just one element in the overall "Walker Work Plan," a three-pronged set of initiatives that the new governor said includes "maximizing human potential; working smarter; and improving Utah, today and tomorrow."

UWIN falls into the category of improving the state "today and tomorrow." Its goal is to ensure that whether it's a catastrophic emergency or in basic day-to-day operations, police, fire and other public safety agencies have the ability for real-time, immediate communications whether by voice or through computer and video mediums, she said.

"There are a lot of reasons why this is important," she said. "It's multiple agencies working together to get the job done."

Walker said the communication challenges between Utah's rural and urban public safety agencies have long been discussed, but solutions were never found despite repeated reminders of the critical need.

In August 1999, for example, when a tornado whipped through downtown Salt Lake City, public safety officials told the then-lieutenant governor that their biggest problem was talking to each other. They couldn't do it over radio frequencies and cell phone systems were jammed.

"I said right then, we need to solve this problem," she said.

With UWIN, voice technologies will link differing radio frequencies, Walker said. A Salt Lake County-based police officer could communicate with an officer or dispatch center without having to switch to another communication medium, such as a phone.

Voice technology is the first phase of Walker's plan and she has set a July 2004 deadline for it to be operational. Phase two of the plan will include video and computer data technology, which could link dispatch centers with video cameras that monitor highway traffic or ones in police cars. That could make it possible for a police dispatcher to have a bird's-eye view of an accident scene and ensure the exactness of the public safety response, she said. Doctors could also view an accident scene to assess the care the injured will need, and firefighters should be able to see inside a burning structure before making an attack.