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Rep. Pascrell's Statement In Reaction To Announcement Of $39.7 Million In Recovery Act Funds To Northern New Jersey For Wireless Broadband...
(Targeted News Service Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Rep. Pascrell's Statement In Reaction To Announcement Of $39.7 Million In Recovery Act Funds To Northern New Jersey For Wireless Broadband Availability For Public Safety Agencies
WASHINGTON, Aug. 18 -- Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-N.J. (8th CD), issued the following news release:
U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-8) today released the following statement in reaction to the Obama Administration's announcement of a $39.7 million Recovery Act grant to the N.J. Department of the Treasury to deploy an interoperable wireless public broadband network that is expected to benefit 4.5 million people in the counties of Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Morris, Passaic and Union.
"Ever since the attack on Sept. 11, 2001, working to ensure interoperability in public safety communications has been one of my top priorities," said Pascrell, an original member of the House Homeland Security Committee. "The keys to our security are communication and information. I'm glad that the Recovery Act is making it possible to make sure those entrusted with our security will be able to communicate with each other as well as access vital information as quickly as possible."
The $39.7 million grant to New Jersey is one of 66 federal Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) grants announced by the Obama Administration today totaling $1.47 billion.
The New Jersey Broadband Network project proposes provide services such as streaming critical patient data from paramedics to hospital personnel; field access to records management systems for criminal, fingerprint, and mug shot information; mobile access for firefighters to building blueprints and infrastructure diagrams; and video applications to improve situational awareness at incident command posts.
The project will deploy an interoperable 700 MHz public safety wireless broadband network in the Northern New Jersey Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) region, which includes over half of the state's public safety responders. The project will serve the counties of Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Morris, Passaic and Union. The 1,487 square-mile area has a population of 4.5 million and more than 30,000 public safety users.
The network plans to leverage the existing state-owned, 77-tower network, deploying 253 miles of microwave middle mile network in three rings connecting to a 100-mile fiber backbone. The network is projected to be utilized by 167 local, county, and state law enforcement agencies and 224 fire departments, offering peak download rates up to 36 Mbps.
Rep. Pascrell's Track Record in Promoting Interoperable Communications Among First Responders
Rep. Pascrell co-authored the bipartisan "21st Century Emergency Communications Act of 2006," which for the first time elevated the Department of Homeland Security's interoperability focus by establishing a new Office of Emergency Communications.
The legislation, which became law, was intended to provide more resources, guidelines and outreach to states and localities to fill the interoperability gap witnessed on 9/11.
The House Homeland Security Committee was also successful in finally creating a stand alone grant program for interoperability, which was has been funded at $50 million through the Homeland Security Appropriations bill.
During the current Congress, Rep. Pascrell has secured more than $1.2 million to improve interoperable technology in the cities of Paterson ($446,000) and Passaic ($242,000), the Township of Wayne ($300,000) as well as obtaining federal funding to help the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office ($267,000) build a state-of-the-art interoperability network.
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(c) 2010 Targeted News Service
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