"The federal government recognizes it's important for public safety personnel to be able to speak to each other not just in the middle of a crisis, but whenever they need to. We learned from Sept. 11, 2001, we don't have that ability, and six years later, we still don't have it to the place where it needs to be. Pennsylvania is in a unique situation. We'll be one of the first states to have a fully interoperable communications system."
-- Joseph S. Martz, secretary of Administration for Pennsylvania, in a keynote address Thursday, June 14, at the Pennsylvania Statewide Interoperability Summit, held at The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel. Martz, a Penn State graduate, spoke at the inaugural gathering of more than 200 state and county public safety communications managers and other government officials. The summit is a key step in the Commonwealth's effortsto develop a statewide radio network and communications plan, a requirement for funding from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Pennsylvania's Office of Public Safety Radio Services partnered with the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency and Penn State to present the conference. For photos from the conference, check Penn State Live at hhttp://live.psu.edu/stilllife/1182 online.