 "The Virginia Tech tragedy
showed us how critical communications are to enhance campus
security. These radios will provide campus security with a critical
communications link to law enforcement and other first responders
whenever an emergency arises," Blagojevich said. "The Illinois
Campus Security Task Force will continue their work to ensure the
safety of our college students, faculty and visitors."On April
29, Blagojevich announced three college campus security initiatives,
including $330,000 in grants from the Illinois Terrorism Task Force
that was used to purchase 171 Starcom21 radios. Schaumburg-based
Motorola Inc., developer of the network, agreed to contribute an
additional 132 radios, valued at $294,000. Altogether, the state was
able to purchase more than 300 radios for distribution to college
campuses. The radios will provide colleges with the capability to
access the interoperable communications network used by other
responders during emergencies.
"Starcom21 is a key component of our interoperable communications
plan in Illinois, and we are very pleased that so many colleges and
universities are receiving these radios, which will dramatically
improve their emergency communications capabilities," said Andrew
Velasquez III, director of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency,
who made the announcement on behalf of the governor at the State
Emergency Operations Center in Springfield.
"This Starcom21 distribution to college campuses not only will
provide secure interoperable communications on campuses, but because
we already had distributed these radios to more than 1,800 public
safety agencies, it will also link them with their local law
enforcement, fire, emergency management and public health
responders," said Col. Jill Morgenthaler, deputy chief of staff for
public safety.
Starcom21 is a statewide communications system deployed in a
public-private partnership between the state of Illinois and
Motorola. This network allows emergency management, law enforcement,
fire and public health agencies to talk to each other from nearly
anywhere within the state. Starcom21 is one of several statewide
interoperable networks developed by Motorola for first responders in
the United States.
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The Illinois Terrorism Task Force made Starcom21 radios available to
every public safety agency throughout the state, including law
enforcement, fire, emergency management and public health
departments. A total of $10.7 million has been dedicated to the
procurement of Starcom21 radios for state and local public safety
agencies in Illinois.
The Illinois Campus Law Enforcement Administrators worked with
the Illinois Terrorism Task Force on allocation of the radios.
In addition to the Starcom radios, the governor's other college
security initiatives include:
-
Creation of an
Illinois Campus Security Task Force, with members representing
community colleges, public and private colleges and
universities, proprietary institutions, the Illinois Terrorism
Task Force, Illinois Emergency Management Agency, Illinois State
Police, Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System, and the Illinois
Campus Law Enforcement Administrators. The governor directed the
task force to identify training needs and implement programs
that will help campus security officials prepare for, respond to
and recover from security incidents on their campuses.
-
Appointing the
Illinois Board of Higher Education, the Illinois Community
College Board and the Illinois Campus Law Enforcement
Administrators to the Illinois Terrorism Task Force. The
participation of these groups in the Illinois Terrorism Task
Force will also allow other public safety bodies to gain
additional insight into the security issues and incidence
response requirements unique to college campuses. The Illinois
Terrorism Task Force currently has more than 70 member
organizations, representing state and local agencies, public
safety organizations, municipalities with populations over
100,000, and the business community.
[Text from file received from
the
Illinois Office of
Communication and Information] |
