Kansas City, MO – The Kansas City Council approved issuing up to $35 million in bonds to pay for a new emergency radio system. Before the vote, Assistant City Manager Rich Noll told council members recent history has changed the concept of emergency communications.
Noll: "When we built this system when you were talking about interoperability you were talking about Police being able to talk to Fire being able to talk to Public Works. Ever since 9-11 and Hurricane Katrina interoperability means one city being able to talk to another city in the region."
When the new radios are installed, emergency responder units in the field will be able to communicate with their counterparts in most major suburbs and with dispatchers from smaller communities that don't have the new radio systems yet.