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September 30, 2010, Alexandria, Va. – The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International today reiterated its position on the use of cell-jamming equipment in prisons to discourage use of contraband cell phones in prisons. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today held a workshop to explore this issue.

“This is a serious problem that can endanger the safety of prison personnel and the public,” the APCO International position statement says.  “As consideration is given to provisions for radio frequency jamming equipment to be deployed in correctional facilities in the United States, we strongly urge Congress and the FCC to require that vendors of such devices demonstrate that use of such equipment will have no harmful impact on public safety radio systems.”

APCO International recommends that the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons or the chief executive officer of a state work with the FCC to determine if other technical solutions, such as call blocking by carriers at the network level through the use of micro-cells in correctional facilities or legitimacy verification of cell phones in the vicinity, can be deployed in lieu of radio frequency jamming equipment.

“We believe that while allowing radio frequency jamming equipment in correctional facilities may seem like a viable solution to combating the use of cell phones by prisoners in the conduct of illegal activities there is considerable risk of interference with public safety mobile radio systems or the ability to call 9-1-1 from a legitimate cell phone,” the APCO International position statement says.  “The solution to this problem should not put our first responders at risk. All options should be considered before allowing the use of radio frequency jamming equipment.”