PPSTN March 2014 NEWSLETTER Public Safety Radio Interoperability in Saskatchewan – A Culture of Collaboration The Big Picture A major part of Saskatchewan’s effective and responsive front-line emergency response communications is the development and the implementation of the Provincial Public Safety Telecommunications Network (PPSTN). PPSTN is unique in the sense that it is currently the only province-wide, fully operational and interoperable network in the country. Both PPSTN and Sask911 lead the field in implementing multi-agency response and emergency incident management communication solutions. And, it has become clear that the multi-agency coordination of response will be absolutely critical in the future. In response to that we and our public safety partners have developed the Saskatchewan Interoperability Development Office (SIDO). We also have to be prepared to adopt emerging technology in several areas including data applications in the field with 700 MHz Public Safety Broadband and Next Generation 911. These emerging technologies will enable tools that are potentially very powerful and could greatly enhance our capacity to both effectively respond to emergencies and keep our responders safe. It is essential that all public safety and related stakeholders in Saskatchewan are informed and have a say in developing and deploying these technologies. To fully support and develop the culture of collaboration the Saskatchewan Interoperability Interest Group (SIIG) has been formed. SIIG consists of representatives of key stakeholder groups who meet as required to review and provide input about emerging public safety interoperability challenges. It is anticipated that SIIG will be a key contributor to building future public safety interoperability capacity. The SIDO Project The SIDO project was initiated through the Ministry of Government Relations (GR) under the direct governance of the Emergency Management and Fire Safety (EMFS) Branch. Commissioner Duane McKay recognizes and supports the critical nature of this initiative. The SIDO team will move the interoperability initiative forward with the support of the dedicated staff in EMFS, the Ministry and our collaborative partners. Who We Are Rick Galloway - Project Lead and PPSTN Strategic Manager Maureen Schmidt - 700 Public Safety Broadband Project Lead John Leitch - Client Services and Research Liaison Lead Howard Georgeson - PPSTN Operations and Interoperability Lead Mike Fraser - Technology Management Lead The SIDO project supports our Provincial Strategic Plan to be an enabling partner on building safe, healthy and vibrant communities. SIDO is founded on core values and principles: Values Will foster a climate which encourages the advancement of interoperability among emergency management professionals. Will operate in accordance with the highest standards in all relationships with first responders, communities, government ministries, non-government organizations and the private sector. Principles Collaboration: SIDO will encourage and support collaborations between agencies and communities who currently have or are about to implement and operate an interoperability program. Simplicity: We will not reinvent the wheel – SIDO will build on and advance the good work that is already in progress or completed and recognizable. Leadership not ownership: SIDO will recognize that interoperability in Saskatchewan is driven by necessity. SIDO’s job is to ensure that good work among stakeholders is identified and remains nested in both Provincial and National Strategies. Innovation: SIDO will pursue and share progressive and innovative interoperability solutions Achieve professional excellence: SIDO will continue to build its professional acumen and dedicate this competency to all stakeholders. Communication: SIDO will maintain vigorous communication by sharing issues, views and challenges with the members of any agency who wish to stay informed, understand or implement an interoperability program. Deliverables Use collaboration to create a common vision for interoperability in Saskatchewan. Develop a centre of excellence which provides a centralized, internet-based resource for our public safety partners. Support the ongoing evolution of the Provincial Public Safety Telecommunications Network as the primary mission critical voice platform for its users. Encourage developing and deploying interoperable solutions by identifying and selecting research and program funding opportunities. Identify what needs to be achieved by all partners to create and support a Provincial Interoperability Program. Produce and present provincial documents about appropriate allocation of the 700MHz public safety broadband spectrum for emergency stakeholders and associated business models. You may ask why all of this information is in the PPSTN Newsletter? The reason is quite simple: PPSTN users are the largest front-line stakeholder group of this kind in Saskatchewan. Along with the front-line responders who are not on the network, PPSTN users represent the critical front-line of public safety response. The SIDO project exists solely to support the front-line responder and those they serve – you. Rick Galloway Manager, Public Safety Communications Interoperability – Sturgis, Saskatchewan Interoperability is alive and well in the Sturgis area! The Sturgis Fire & District Fire Co-op in conjunction with the Canora RCMP and Preeceville Ambulance have successfully utilized interoperability on a number of occasions in the past year with only a few minor glitches. The first incident occurred in June 2013 when the Sturgis Fire Department was dispatched to an anhydrous ammonia leak at the bulk depot near Sturgis. Sturgis & District Fire Co-Operative Upon arrival, the Sturgis Fire Department requested an interop channel to use with responding EMS and the RCMP. Dispatch advised Sturgis Fire to use Public 3. While EMS unfortunately had an issue with the interop channel and instead used cell phones to communicate, the RCMP was able to utilize the interop channel and communication was established. Information was relayed between the RCMP and Sturgis Fire in regards to establishing a traffic stop due to a plume of gas that was moving east. The incident was resolved with no injuries and the leak was fixed. The second incident was a motor vehicle collision involving a semi-trailer unit. En route to the incident, Sturgis Fire requested an interop channel to use with responding EMS and RCMP. Upon arrival, Sturgis Fire was able to successfully relay vital details on the occupants of the semi to EMS as well as relay important information on to the RCMP. The third incident occurred shortly after arriving back at the fire hall following the second incident. The RCMP requested assistance from the Fire Co-op to locate a missing person. Once again, Sturgis Fire requested dispatch to go interop with the RCMP. In this instance, interoperability proved to be a useful communication tool as the two parties were able to communicate their positions so they did not overlap the search area. As well, when the missing person was located each party instantly knew that the person had been found. Sturgis Fire Chief Brad Secundiak stated: “The interoperability channel did what it was supposed to do and that is give us the communication we need with responding agencies. I will continue to request and use the interop channel when needed, as this is an excellent tool to have at our disposal. It opens up a needed line of communication that was lacking in the past.” Meet the Professors of Radio University The PPSTN is one of the largest of its kind in North America in terms of area covered and number of towers. The 8000 member client list is diverse and includes agencies such as the Canadian Armed Forces, the RCMP, Highway Transport Compliance, conservation officers, police departments, nearly 300 fire departments, EMS and many others. Other jurisdictions are wowed by the fact that every PPSTN user can communicate directly with any other user. This level of interoperability is practically unheard of everywhere else however; there is a minor problem. While PPSTN carries leading technology for its users, sometimes the users don’t have the knowledge to use it effectively. Public safety responders train regularly on their own specialized equipment such as firearms, breathing equipment and medical procedures. This does not hold true for radios. The gap in radio training is recognized and PPSTN has professional trainers who are ready to help fill that gap. The PPSTN’s radio trainers are highly qualified individuals - two men who have both been there and done that and have the t-shirts to prove it! They are both book-smart and have the operational experiences to directly relate to most situations. Meet the trainers: Ken Dobra Ken Dobra Once a professional teacher and a fire fighter Ken is currently the Executive Director of the Saskatchewan Volunteer Fire Fighters Association (SVFFA) in addition to conducting radio training sessions for PPSTN. Ken has been with PPSTN since its conception and has trained hundreds of radio clients. Randall (Randy) Warnock After serving 35 years as an RCMP officer, Randy joined PPSTN in 2010 as a radio trainer. Randy has also worked to develop training systems within the RCMP and has travelled extensively with PPSTN to train emergency responders throughout the province. Both of these experts are available to deliver quality radio training at any location, at no cost. They will encourage multi-agency attendance to permit live inter-agency communications right in the classroom. They will also cover every aspect of radio operation including voice procedures and control functions. Randall Warnock Training sessions typically run about two hours but training sessions to fit specific needs may also be developed by contacting Ken and Randy. New staff? Need a refresher? No problem. Want to try a few multiagency exercises? PPSTN can help with that too. For all radio training needs give our Help Desk a call at 1-888-953-3693. We Never Close During the coldest mid-winter nights, under a blistering August sun, on Christmas Day or New Years Eve, 24 hours-a-day and seven-days-a-week emergency response professionals throughout the province are on duty to respond to crisis at a moment’s notice. The Ministry of Government Relations (GR), SaskPower and the RCMP have teams of dedicated personnel who are ready to respond day and night to problems that may affect one or several of the more than 250 radio towers located in the province. The response SaskPower has to power outages is exemplary; restoring grid power to PPSTN towers that are affected well within the backup battery power timeframe. Inter-departmental information sharing during outages assists GR and the RCMP in assessing potential threats to the system as well as reacting to minimize potential threats. The RCMP monitor the network and site status in real time. Information is forwarded to GR Facilities Support when there is a requirement to respond to shelters and/or address other anomalies. GR’s Radio and Technical Support respond to issues and concerns received through the GR Help Desk for Fire, Police and EMS clients. GR Facilities Support, in addition to the others, is ready 24 hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week and 365 days a year. Personnel are on standby throughout the province to respond as required. The support that is provided behind the scenes is an integral part of PPSTN. A number of radio, network, power and mechanical technicians continually service, upgrade and repair the infrastructure for PPSTN. It is never a nine-to-five job as a team is continuously on-call and prepared to respond to ensure that the network is operational and available to front-line emergency responders. We are simply never closed! Portable PPSTN Mobile Communications Tower (MCT) Radio Site The equipment trailer with a 100 foot telescoping tower can replace a damaged site or provide temporary coverage for incident response. The MCT is completely self-contained and includes an on-board generator and satellite link system. The CITIG 2013 Annual Meeting The Canadian Interoperable Technology Interest Group (CITIG) held its seventh annual meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia in November 2013. As a presenter for Saskatchewan, Rick Galloway showcased the PPSTN (and discreetly promoted the Grey Cup Champions). This international gathering of more than 300 public safety professionals Rick Galloway, CITIG 2013 Annual Meeting exists to share experiences and solutions surrounding communications issues as well as to give the industry an opportunity to showcase the next big thing. Suffice to say the future goes “beep”. Data is important to have in order to react to and embrace the stunning advances in everything from biomedical monitoring to location-based services which was a buzz-phrase at the meeting. Many principal responders to the Lac Megantic rail tragedy and the Calgary flood were present to share the challenges and successes they encountered while responding to those major events. From their stories it became evident that there is still a long road to travel in interoperability. It is also apparent that voice communications are here for the foreseeable future. While Saskatchewan is still an obvious leader in multi-agency interoperability Alberta is building a similar system which is scheduled to go into operation in 2014. Other provinces are not far behind. Trends to follow: Next Generation 911 Broadband 700 MHz LTE devices Multi-band radios Social media in public safety Wide-area public alerting For more information go to www.citig.ca. Just Between You and Me… True story: a few years ago an off-duty police officer was working at a charity bingo and was thanked by name by the unfamiliar lady who bought the card. Puzzled, he asked if they had ever met. “No,” she replied. “I recognize your voice from my scanner.” This is a reality. People are trying to listen in to your radio conversations and some of those people are very determined and sophisticated. The internet enables anyone to listen live to public safety activities around the world, have a look at www.radioreference.com. Some PPSTN clients utilize voice privacy systems in their radios to ensure sensitive information is not overheard. The encryption used is called P25 AES 256 and for all practical purposes, is unbreakable. Do note that if your organization wishes to use an encryption you will need to budget approximately $800.00 per radio. The only realistic way for AES 256 encryption to be broken is to have a radio with the correct numeric key. This key is loaded into each agency’s radio with a calculator-like keyloader. Some can be updated over the air. Each radio in the conversation must have exactly the same key loaded to participate. Although keyloaders can be purchased by anyone, without the correct numeric sequence they cannot be used to eavesdrop. There are at least three possible ways to enable eavesdroppers: Forget to use the encrypted channels, which is the case in almost 20 per cent of all conversations in one big-city analysis. Find an unencrypted part of the voice path which might be part of a cross-system patch or an unsecured site-to-site link. Through an outside party using a lost or stolen radio. The third method is more common than you would think. A regular hands-on, comprehensive inventory of your encrypted radio equipment is important. Contact PPSTN if you have lost track of a radio as a radio can be electronically stunned, rendering it unusable. If found, the radio can be turned on again - just as easily. However, there is a fourth method used to eavesdrop - by listening to the cranked-up radio on your belt as you sip your coffee at the local diner. Be sure to maintain good radio privacy practices even if you are confident in your encryption system. If you require more information please contact the Help Desk at 1-888-953-3693.