TRENTON — Attorney General Peter
C. Harvey has appointed Raymond J. Hayling
II as the state’s first Chief Public
Safety Communications Officer, a position
designed to improve and coordinate New
Jersey’s public safety communications
planning, funding and interoperability
systems.
In his new position, Hayling is New Jersey’s
focal point for ensuring communications
“interoperability,” or the
ability for public safety agencies to
communicate across jurisdictions and disciplines
when needed, the Attorney General said.
Harvey noted that, as a result of efforts
to date, New Jersey has already demonstrated
preliminary communication interoperability
among different jurisdictions.
“The events of 9/11 clearly demonstrated
the need for police officers, firefighters
and emergency medical services personnel
to be able to communicate effectively
in times of need,” Harvey said.
“More recently, the 9/11 Commission’s
report reemphasized the need to communicate
among various first responder agencies
and across geographic and political jurisdictions.
Ray has already applied innovative solutions
to move New Jersey quickly to interoperability
among federal, local, county and state
agencies.”
“One
of the challenges is to implement a viable
short-term answer to interoperability
among the different existing communication
systems, while seeking a more global solution
in the long run,” Hayling said.
“Another challenge is that interoperability
can be problematic. You do not want everyone
talking at once, causing large-scale confusion
among agencies. That’s why the coordination
provided by the creation of this position
is important. I thank Attorney General
Harvey for the confidence he’s placed
in my ability to meet these challenges.”
Successful Testing
According to Harvey, New Jersey has already
tested an interoperable communication
system that employs newly acquired radio
frequencies linked through central dispatch
centers. This initial phase of an interoperability
solution is being implemented in New Jersey’s
Northeastern Urban Area Security Initiative
(UASI) region, which includes the cities
of Jersey City and Newark, as well as
Essex, Hudson, Bergen, Morris, Passaic
and Union counties. This technological
solution provided successful interoperable
communications this past summer during
the Republican National Convention and
during the period that the Homeland Security
Alert System was elevated to orange status
for the financial sector in Northern New
Jersey as a result of identified threats
against the Prudential building in Newark.
The state is currently in the process
of implementing this solution in the state’s
remaining 15 counties.
The primary goal in solving interoperability
is understanding that no one single technology
or other solution is a “silver bullet”.
The focus for New Jersey is to provide
a series of successful technologies and
other answers to the practitioners. This
will allow the first responders to “stand
up” the appropriate answer in a
crisis without having to worry about the
correct solution. During one test, initiated
and directed by Hayling, the system successfully
provided inter-agency communications among
more than 40 federal, state and local
public safety agencies.
Harvey noted that interoperability is
a high priority for all public safety
agencies nationwide. In spring 2002, the
federal government established the SAFECOM
program to help local, state and federal
public safety agencies to improve public
safety response through more effective
and efficient interoperable wireless communications.
The SAFECOM program is now located in
the Department of Homeland Security. At
the state level, The Public Safety Interoperable
Communications Act, adopted into law in
January 2004, established a State Public
Safety Interoperable Communications Coordinating
Council (SPSICCC), a 16-person body made
up of state cabinet members or their designees
and representatives of the state’s
first responder organizations. The SPSICC,
which is administratively located in the
Office of the Attorney General, is charged
with developing a strategic plan for statewide
interoperability.
In
addition to serving as the state’s
Chief Public Safety Communications Officer,
Hayling also serves as Executive Director
and Attorney General’s designee
in the SPSICC. He is also Vice Chair of
the Federal Communications Commission’s
(FCC’s) Region 28 Planning Committees
and Chair of the FCC Region 8 Interoperability
Sub-Committee. (New Jersey is divided
between FCC Regions 8 and 28). He is also
a member of the SAFECOM Advisory Board.
A former commissioner on the state’s
Executive Commission on Ethical Standards,
Hayling also served as Chief of Staff
for the New Jersey Office of Information
Technology. Prior to working for state
government, he served in various management
positions at the New Jersey Institute
of Technology. A resident of Somerset
County, Hayling earned his bachelor’s
degree from Rutgers University in New
Brunswick.