Gov. Gregoire participates in Puyallup�s Emergency Communication System Test

September 3, 2008

AS WRITTEN

Thank you Mayor Don Malloy for the nice introduction.

Among the big lessons learned after 9/11, Katrina, and other major disasters is this: police, firefighters, rescuers, and everybody else must be able to talk in real time with each other across city, county, and jurisdictional lines. It�s beyond fundamental!

So I am extremely pleased today to witness an exercise that shows that first responders in the most populous part of Washington can now talk to each other.

In the case of this emergency exercise -- responders here in Puyallup were able to talk with their counterparts elsewhere in Pierce County and also in Snohomish and King County.

Had this been a real disaster, we would have been far more ready because of this new 800 Megahertz radio system.

Had we had this system three years ago, the Pierce County, Tacoma, and Metro SWAT teams could have responded far more easily to the Tacoma Mall Shooting.

As it was, each agency had to be patched in one-by-one, which took a little over an hour.

Then there was the 2007 Port of Tacoma Protest, which involved multiple federal, state and local agencies. It took two days of hard work to keep everybody patched together.

If there were a truly major, escalating disaster, the amount of time and manpower to patch everyone in becomes a nightmare. With major players on 800 MHz, it is a much faster process resulting in faster response times and better communications.

I am extremely pleased to have approved a $1 million state investment to help pay for this system new 800 Megahertz system.

It was definitely money well spent.

My congratulations to all who made this day a reality.

Thank You