Nearly seven years ago, our city experienced one of the worst national tragedies our country has ever witnessed. Thousands died in the attacks on the World Trade Center and that included hundreds of firemen, but not from the police department. That occurred because while the NYPD could hear on their radios to get out, the firefighters didn't get the message because their radios weren't able to pick up the same frequencies. Not long after that terrible day, we as a city realized that Giuliani had a chance to fix the radios several years earlier but he did nothing. And now, in 2008, it seems to have taken several years afterwards to fix the error.
From The NY Times:
Emergency medical workers can now contact the police directly via radio. Fire officials use information beamed down from police helicopters. Law enforcement officers and emergency service agencies hold joint drills at high-rise buildings, jails and the city’s tunnels.
Seven years after the harsh lessons of the Sept. 11 attacks, New York City has improved the ability of its Police and Fire Departments to operate together.
On Wednesday, these and other advances were enumerated before the Federal Communications Commission at a public hearing in Brooklyn on improving public safety through better communications among government and emergency agencies.
I am glad to hear that things are working the way they should have nearly fifteen years ago. Though we needed this technology to be in working order as soon as people understood just how much New York is a target for attacks, namely after the 1993 WTC bombing. Yet Giuliani was negligent with the radio problem....and it took nearly the entire term of the Bloomberg Administration too.
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