Piedmont Regional Voice over IP Pilot Project Law Enforcement Information Management Conference Greensboro, N. C. May 21-24, 2007 Major Dean Hairston, Danville Police Department City of Danville, Virginia

2 Piedmont Regional Voice over IP Pilot Project Structure The Piedmont Regional Voice over IP Pilot Project is a collaborative effort between a consortium of agencies and Cisco Systems, with the City of Danville serving as host agency. Sprint / Nextel has provided T-1 Lines, VoIP and Push- to-talk Phones NIJ CommTech is a participant observer and serves as an advisor to the City of Danville Police Department.

3 Piedmont Regional Voice over IP Pilot Project Participating Agencies Pittsylvania Co., Virginia Caswell Co., North Carolina Virginia State Police North Carolina State Highway Patrol Town of South Boston & Halifax, VA

4 Caswell County, N.C. SOUTH BOSTON

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7 Piedmont Regional Voice over IP Pilot Project Problem Statement Lack of a common frequency to connect Virginia and North Carolina agencies During emergency situations, officers were forced to rely on dispatchers relaying information via landlines Timeliness and accuracy of information being relayed

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9 Piedmont Regional Voice over IP Pilot Project Needs Assessment Improved officer safety through direct communication and coordination Ability to create interoperability through relatively simple system modifications as opposed to system replacement Flexible and affordable interoperable solution

10 Federal Agencies Law Enforcement Power/Water Treatment plants Emergency Services Dispatch Center Airport/Seaport Critical Infrastructure Corrections Court Homeland Security FBI Private Radio or CDMA Network Converged Network Wireless LAN Network Wire Line Networks 2.5G & 3G Cellular Networks Gateways Retail Hospital School Bank Community Partnership Network Project Goal - Implement a flexible and expandable integrated radio system using a Voice over IP network

11 T1 Connection Fiber Connection Land Mobile Radio Gateway Cisco IPICS Server Piedmont Regional Voice over IP Pilot Program

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15 Piedmont Regional Voice over IP Pilot Project Plan – Phase I Identify the departments and available resources within the City of Danville Establish consensus among participants Identify project representative for governance board Identify technical leads Assess and define technical configuration Define existing resources Determine what new resources will be needed Establish governance board Develop MOU Technology deployment Infrastructure prep Installation of IPICS server Installation of routers at voice resources Train agency personnel

16 Piedmont Regional Voice over IP Pilot Project Plan – Phase II Solicit participation with the Pitts. County, VA and Caswell County, N.C. agencies. Identify available resources within both agencies. Establish consensus among additional participants Identify project representative for governance board Identify technical lead Assess and define technical configuration Define existing resources Determine what new resources will be needed Expand governance board Expand MOU to include county agencies Technology deployment Installation of voice resources  Routers  VoIP Phones  PC access Train agency personnel

17 Piedmont Regional Voice over IP Pilot Project Plan – Phase III Solicit participation with the Virginia State Police and the North Carolina H.P. Identify available resources within both agencies. Establish consensus among additional participants Identify project representative for governance board Identify technical lead Assess and define technical configuration Define existing resources Determine what new resources will be needed Expand governance board Expand MOU to include state agencies Technology deployment Installation of voice resources  Routers  VoIP Phones  PC access Train agency personnel

18 Piedmont Regional Voice over IP Pilot Project Issues Technical issues Inadequate infrastructures Security & reliability Command & Control Administrative issues Participating agencies lacked existing framework for interoperability Sharing control of resources You can’t separate the technical side from the governance side Must be user driven

19 Piedmont Regional Voice over IP Pilot Project Current Status Phases I & II infrastructure completed and are up and running All participating agencies physically connected Governance Board established MOU completed and signed Policy and Procedure document completed Testing and training underway Six month pilot deployment set to begin

20 Piedmont Regional Voice over IP Pilot Project NIJ CommTech Role NIJ CommTech is documenting lessons learned and will publish white papers on the project. NIJ CommTech assisted with the establishment of the regional governance structure. NIJ is not providing funding for this project beyond manpower and minor site preparation.

21 Piedmont Regional Voice over IP Pilot Project For more information contact: Major R. D. Hairston (434) / Regional National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center: Northeast (Rome, NY) 888–338–0584 Southeast (Charleston, SC) 800–292–4385 NIJ CommTech –