Alexandria, Va. – The Public Safety Alliance today urged all Members of the United States Senate and the entire Congress to support public safety, and the public’s safety, by co-sponsoring S. 28, The Public Safety Spectrum and Wireless Innovation Act of 2011 as a significant step toward finally realizing a nationwide, interoperable public safety broadband network. S. 28 is identical to legislation previously introduced by Chairman Rockefeller late in the Second session of the 111th Congress.

“We are grateful to Senator Rockefeller for his leadership on this issue, his willingness to listen to public safety and work with us to find a solution that will improve the way our nation’s first responders communicate when protecting and serving the public,” San Jose Acting Police Chief Chris Moore said. “This is a top priority for all of the public safety and other supporting entities of the alliance, and we remain resolute in our commitment to work with Congress, the Obama Administration, and others to secure adequate spectrum and funding as envisioned in this bill.”

The PSA looks forward to expanding upon the Senators who co-sponsored the bill in 2010, to truly begin providing public safety with the foundational elements – sufficient spectrum and funding – to begin deploying and realizing a nationwide, interoperable, and mission-critical public safety broadband network throughout America. Co-sponsors in this Congress already include Senator Frank Lautenberg (NJ-D), Senator Bill Nelson (FL-D), Senator Amy Klobuchar (MN-D), Benjamin Cardin (MD-D) and Tom Harkin (IA-D). We thank them for their continued support. This legislation is expected to be the subject of several upcoming hearings, and its core imperatives of funding and public safety spectrum allocation must remain intact.

“As we near the 10th Anniversary of 9/11, when more than 400 first responders and nearly 3,000 innocent civilians lost their lives in New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, we cannot overstate the fact that our nation is still struggling mightily to begin implementing solutions to the communications challenges we faced that day,” said New York City Police Department’s Deputy Chief of Communications Charles Dowd said. “The allocation of the D-Block spectrum with significant federal funding is critical, not only to solving the communication problems of September 11, 2001, but also many of the communications issues since.”

About Public Safety Alliance
The Public Safety Alliance is a partnership with the nation’s leading public safety associations, which includes the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the International Association of Fire Chiefs, the National Sheriffs’ Association, the Major Cities Chiefs Association, the Major County Sheriffs’ Association, the Metropolitan Fire Chiefs Association, the National Emergency Management Association and the National Association of State EMS Officials. The partnership is operated as a program of APCO International. For more information, visit http://psafirst.org.