WSTA Transit Security Council Meeting
hosted by Intercity Transit
Tuesday, August 14, 2007, 10:00am – 12:00pm
Intercity Transit Communications Room
WSTA Transit Security Council Mission Statement
To review transit
security information in an effort to advise Washington State Transit Agencies about
training opportunities and the standardization of report procedures, codes of conduct,
security plans, crime-reduction methods, and police/judicial cooperation.
Attendees:
Joan Cormany, Pierce Transit
Geoffrey Getchman, Seattle Police Department
Michelle Parvinen, WSTA
Captain Dave Jutilla, Metro Transit Police
Rod Baker, Pierce Transit
Robert Isaman, WA State Emergency Management
Phil Early, Intercity Transit
Roy Burns, Intercity Transit
Sheldon Breaux, Kitsap Transit
John Harkins, Pierce Transit
Bob Medcraft, C-Tran
Ray Hawkins, Pierce Transit
Bill Casio, Pierce County, S.D.
David Sorenson, SCSO / C-Tran
Don Burr, Community Transit
Absent Members:
Carol Cummings, Metro Transit Police
Sgt. Dave Redding, Pierce County Sheriff’s Dept.
Kenneth Cummins, Security Officer (Sound Transit)?
Sgt. Phillip Nichols, Snohomish County Sheriff’s Dept.
Lt. Rodney Rochon, Snohomish County Sheriff’s Dept.
Chuck Cox, King County Metro
Mike Burris, Community Transit
Jim Dusevoir, Amtrack Transit Police
James Tompkins, Department of Homeland Security
Roland Bradley, Metro Transit
Robert Muzzy, Whatcom Transportation Authority
Tracy Christianson, WSTIP
Dave Fairbanks, King County Metro
Minutes Taken By:
Beverly McCarter
Call to Order
Dave J. confirmed our last meeting was held at Kitsap Transit – Sheldon took the
minutes. He re-capped that we spoke about interoperability and so Phil invited us to
Intercity to get a chance to see their radio systems.
Bob Medcraft has joined us today to discuss the radio systems and Roy Burns
is here as one of the Operations Supervisors. There
will be an opportunity at the end of the meeting for these two to take us on a tour of the
systems.
Dave stated we also have some guest speakers here.
Scott Miller, SEIC Program Manager, Washington Dept. of Information
Services
Arel Solie, Homeland Security Emergency Manager, Homeland Security
Division of WSP
Region-Wide Interoperability Plan
Scott is working in a regional group to put
together a region wide interoperability plan. The Dept of Homeland security has a grant
program and the recent change is that all states and territories are required to have a
local interoperability plans that connect with each other. The DHS (Department of Homeland
Security) has a state-wide grant (Public Safety Interoperability Communication Grant). This is the first grant which requires the SKIP. In order to qualify for future DHS grants agencies
must have the SKIP – but the PSIC is a one time thing.
The goal is to bring together a series of existing plans to see where the
gaps are - state wide
Originally there was a
requirement for a 700 Mhz tie – but this has been rescinded – the requirement is
local and tribal public safety – not just official non-govt. agencies. All agencies
that provide public safety are eligible.
There will be a conference on
8/22 assessing these goals, at the Sheridan, and will collect local input to this plan. Technical experts and/or policy people should attend
this meeting to make strategic decisions regarding the goals and objectives. This meeting is 8 hours of facilitated discussion
– Scott will be taking independent feedback from those who cannot participate on
8/22. There will be 300 participants so
telecommuting is not a possibility. There
will be facilitated break-out sessions to accomplish these goals and the plan will be
posted on the SIAC website. The
workshop will not talk about how to apply the grant money it is only to establish the
interoperability plan. They are being driven
by timelines and they want to get local input, get a plan put together, get statewide
approval, and submit application for the grant by 10/1/07.
They need a full requirements analysis re: improving interoperable
communications before they can go back to see what can be taken out of the grant.
They are advocating for the
state agencies to implement IP Gateways. He
explained that it is an audio patch so they can use cell phones too it doesn’t just
have to be a radio.
Their focus for the state is
to support Region One (Snohomish, Skagit, Whatcom, San
Juan Islands, etc.); as these are the areas
that will need to prepare for the 2009 Police Games and 2010 Olympics.
They have released the pre
planning draft to the committee and it is scheduled to be publicallly released today
(8/14/07) this will show us where the state is with inter-operability at this time. Around the 18th of July the guidelines
for the PSIC grant were released and they are moving very fast to meet deadlines. Registration info is available on www.SIEC.wa.gov
– they need the final completed plan by the 18th of Sept.
The grant requires no single
agency or single jurisdiction applications. You
MUST partner and be a multiple jurisdiction applicant.
You must state how you are partnered and if you apply for multiple groups
you MUST be able to meet the 20% match on all that have been accepted. The grant goes through Sept 30th. Applications to the federal government are due Nov
1st – they will get back to them in March and we will have funds released
in June or July. This will give us about 24
months and all funds at the end will go back to the treasury - there will be no
extensions. There will be conference calls to
answer questions on the SIAC website.
Documents are available to
read at www.NTIA.doc.gov
Scott stated there is no
existing SKIP in any state at this time.
What can be asked
for on the grant: System Planning and Architecture – Maintenance
– Construction – Operations – Communications Tower (there is a national environmental agency
requirement for building) – Redundancy and Security.
Scott stated to keep in perspective that 15 mil has to stretch across
the entire state so we will not get a lot of money.
Legislation 9/11 bill was
recently passed will be going into affect. They
think there will be changes in the amount of money we are being given – and in other
requirements. They are trying to
minimize the changes that will come but they are in a crunch too.
Dave passed out a handout
that he got from the last meeting – there are rating components listed on page 2. Pg 3 has a list of plans they would like to
move forward on as a Regional Operability Group.
He thinks this group could springboard onto the mass transit
piece and interoperability at the operations aspect. He
would like to see some attendance at the Aug 22nd meeting and he would like
small groups to get together to identify some goals and visions from this group to present
at that meeting. He would like to
see 3-4 people to work on this for a week and then get it out to the larger group. Rod Baker, Ray Hawkins, & Dave Sorenson
volunteered. They will get a draft together
and have it sent out in a week for re-distribution by Friday or Monday. Draft will include: Transit Communication –
Operations – and how it would tie into
communications centers for Police, Fire, etc.
700/800 Mhz Radio
System / Interoperabily Issues
Phill Early began to discuss their radio and
communication systems. He stated their
expert is not here so he will talk about the Orbital Radio System in dispatch – the
security camera – then take everyone downstairs to the bus yard to look at the Mobile
Orbital system and lap tops in the supervisor vehicles.
They are still adding cameras and getting swipe cards in the bus yard
– but they continue to work on it. He
stated Bob Medcraft is here to talk about the radio system – Roy burns is one of the
operations supervisors. They purchased Orbital
and were looking to get 700 – 800 Mhz band but found out it would be easier to stay
with the 400 Mhz system they already had. He
stated everyone who has the radio system is going to be reduced in Mhz so they decided to
stay at 400. They currently share the system
with a police band and they have 4 channels they can operate on; 3 are voice (fixed route,
emergency, and operations, and buss shop) and 1 for data.
They have a “first come, first service” basis for ops looking to
get on the radio. He stated this
is better than what they used to have. They
also have the GPS system now – they know who is driving, where the vehicle is, what
the average speed is, and can play back the info so they can see where the bus went. They have a person from orbital who is here all the
time working on helping them with the trouble shooting and testing portion. They have 2 towers; dead spots have not been
an issue so far. The supervisors carry a
handheld – it is a closed radio system and they had been on an open system before. Communication with Olympia and Thurston county
PD is not instant as they are on 800Mhz right now – but there is discussion about
public safety going back to 700 Mhz.
Scott stated the reason there
is movement in the Mhz is that there has been interference with the cell phones; so they
are moving law enforcement to 700 instead of 800. He
stated that when public safety is at 700 Intercity Transit may have difficulty with
interoperability.
Phil stated they are working
with Thurston county to make sure they have interoperability.
Bus Safety and Security Conference - After Action
Report
We are postponing this for now – the feedback was fantastic – we will meet as a
group – prepare an after action report in Sept and report back to this group. Rod agreed – very well done very professional
and everyone got a lot out of it. We
did the first one in the state of Washington– they are most commonly focused on Rail. We received many compliments.
Legislative Issues
We are hoping to have a near final review of what statutory changes / additions we will be
submitting to WSTA for consideration in the fall. Dave
stated considerations for RCWA proposals. Rod
and Dave have been working on 2 particular statutes.
First is Unlawful Bus Conduct – it needs to be updated
and modernized as the language is not specific to today’s needs. They are working with the city attorney at the city
of Tacoma and their language is very similar to the RCW - except the last to paragraphs
are a little stricter.
·
One item is the smoking law
which was passed with no punishable. The
attorney general stated bus stops, transit centers, etc are included as buildings. We would like to change the sentence in the
unlawful bus conduct to include these things and then smoking would be unlawful bus
conduct.
·
We also have gang problems and
are looking for more aggressive language toward any type of gang activity.
·
We would also like to look at
adding loitering under unlawful bus conduct.
2nd
is Weapons. We
need a lot of discussion on this issue. The
RCW has a “use of weapons prohibited statement” – (prohibited in court
houses and post offices etc.). We would
like to have the transit system to be included in this group; – this would include
swords and unsheathed knives. Rod hopes to
have more about the changes to the municipal code at the next meeting; they plan to
re-word and add paragraphs and put it before city council.
Legislation just passed an aggressive pan handling law and he doesn’t
think this verbiage will be a problem. Dave
stated this group should move forward to submit this change in language to be adopted in
the RCW.
Discussion on the selection of a new Co-Chair for WSTA
TSC
Dave Redding was the co-chair and he has elected to step down now that Cassio is working
for PT. Rod stated elections for all positions
are coming up again in January.
Rod nominated
Bill Cassio as Co-Chair
Geoff Getcham
2nd - Bill Cassio was elected as
our new Co-Chair.
We adjourned
this meeting at 11:45 and then Phill Early took those who desired on a tour of the radio
system.
If you
would like more information about this committee, please contact one of the officers or
Michelle Parvinen at WSTA 360.786.9734, 2629 12th Court SW, Olympia, WA 98502-1118, or
email michelle@watransit.com |
