Map of Homeland Security Planning Regions (5) and List of Municipalities by Region for Massachusetts

DFS Hazmat Districts (6)

Fire District Boundaries (14)

EMS Regions (5)

County Boundaries (14)

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SAFECOM and the new (Fall 04) DHS office of Interoperability and Compatability are the best resources at the federal level on interop.

Statement of Requirements for PS Wireless Comm. and Interop.

Methodology for Statewide Interop Planning

Virginia Office of Interop Coordination - Virginia has a very well-thought-out statewide approach to interop and a person, Chris Essin, who has the Governor's mandate to coordinate interop and help develop public safety communications

Why Can't We Talk - major report on need for interop. Excellent practical resource.

National Public Safety Telecommunications Council - excellent site; they have an electronic newsletter that tracks wireless, spectrum, rebanding, software-defined radio, and many other topics of interest to police-fire-EMS communications personnel.

more info here

The Metro Boston Homeland Security Region has established a Communications Interoperability Subcommittee with membership from Boston and the 8 surrounding cities in the region (Quincy, Brookline, Cambridge, Somerville, Everett, Winthrop, Revere and Chelsea), state public safety agencies operating within the region (e.g., State Police, Massport, MBTA, etc.) and regional public safety communications networks also in or serving the region (e.g., BAPERN, Metrofire, and CMED).

Metro Boston Homeland Security Region, Communications Interoperability 5-Year Strategic Plan, Sept 1, 2005.

As part of its planning efforts, the Subcommittee had developed a technical self-assessment instrument that was used (Spring 2005) to gather information about the status of existing communications systems in the MBHSR region. The instrument is available here as a PDF (1.25MB file).

BAPERN - Greater Boston Police Council's regional UHF system in the greater Boston area. Setup in the 1970's after the anti-war riots in 1969 in Cambridge

MetroFire - Fire District 13's UHF radio system

NEMLEC - Northeast Mass Law Enforcement Council operates a UHF regional radio system

WMLEC - Western Mass. Law Enforcement Council

CMED - statewide radio system for EMS coordination

more...

800 MHz Rebanding Quick Reference Guide (4/21/05)