Piedmont Regional Voice over IP Pilot Project

Law Enforcement Information Management Conference

Greensboro, N. C. May 21-24, 2007

Major Dean Hairston, Danville Police Department

City of Danville, Virginia

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Piedmont Regional Voice over IP Pilot Project

Structure

• The Piedmont Regional Voice over IP Pilot Project is a collaborative effort between a consortium of agencies and Cisco Systems, with the City of Danville serving as host agency.

Sprint / Nextel has provided T-1 Lines, VoIP and Push-to-talk Phones

• NIJ CommTech is a participant observer and serves as an advisor to the City of Danville Police Department.

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Piedmont Regional Voice over IP Pilot Project

Participating Agencies

Pittsylvania Co., Virginia

Caswell Co., North Carolina

Virginia State Police

North Carolina State Highway Patrol

Town of South Boston & Halifax, VA

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Caswell County, N.C.

SOUTH BOSTON

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Piedmont Regional Voice over IP Pilot Project

Problem Statement

Lack of a common frequency to connect Virginia and North Carolina agencies

During emergency situations, officers were forced to rely on dispatchers relaying information via landlines

Timeliness and accuracy of information being relayed

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Piedmont Regional Voice over IP Pilot Project

Needs Assessment

Improved officer safety through direct communication and coordination

Ability to create interoperability through relatively simple system modifications as opposed to system replacement

Flexible and affordable interoperable solution

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Federal AgenciesFederal Agencies

Law Enforcement

Power/Water Treatment plants

Power/Water Treatment plants

Emergency ServicesEmergency Services

Dispatch Center

Airport/SeaportAirport/Seaport

Critical Infrastructure

Corrections

Court Homeland Security

FBI

Private Radio or CDMA Network

Converged Network

Wireless LAN Network

Wire Line Networks

2.5G & 3G Cellular

Networks

Gateways

Retail

Hospital

School

Bank

Community Partnership Network

Project Goal - Implement a flexible and expandable integrated radio system using a Voice over IP network

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T1 Connection

Fiber Connection

Land Mobile Radio Gateway

Cisco IPICS Server

Piedmont Regional Voice over IP Pilot Program

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Piedmont Regional Voice over IP Pilot Project Plan – Phase I

Identify the departments and available resources within the City of Danville Establish consensus among participants

Identify project representative for governance board Identify technical leads

Assess and define technical configuration Define existing resources Determine what new resources will be needed

Establish governance board Develop MOU

Technology deployment Infrastructure prep Installation of IPICS server Installation of routers at voice resources

Train agency personnel

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Piedmont Regional Voice over IP Pilot Project Plan – Phase II

Solicit participation with the Pitts. County, VA and Caswell County, N.C. agencies. Identify available resources within both agencies. Establish consensus among additional participants

Identify project representative for governance board Identify technical lead

Assess and define technical configuration Define existing resources Determine what new resources will be needed

Expand governance board Expand MOU to include county agencies

Technology deployment Installation of voice resources

Routers VoIP Phones PC access

Train agency personnel

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Piedmont Regional Voice over IP Pilot Project Plan – Phase III

Solicit participation with the Virginia State Police and the North Carolina H.P. Identify available resources within both agencies. Establish consensus among additional participants

Identify project representative for governance board Identify technical lead

Assess and define technical configuration Define existing resources Determine what new resources will be needed

Expand governance board Expand MOU to include state agencies

Technology deployment Installation of voice resources

Routers VoIP Phones PC access

Train agency personnel

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Piedmont Regional Voice over IP Pilot Project

Issues Technical issues

Inadequate infrastructures Security & reliability Command & Control

Administrative issues Participating agencies lacked existing framework for

interoperability Sharing control of resources You can’t separate the technical side from the governance side Must be user driven

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Piedmont Regional Voice over IP Pilot Project Current Status Phases I & II infrastructure completed and are

up and running All participating agencies physically connected

Governance Board established

MOU completed and signed Policy and Procedure document completed Testing and training underway Six month pilot deployment set to begin

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Piedmont Regional Voice over IP Pilot Project NIJ CommTech Role

NIJ CommTech is documenting lessons learned and will publish white papers on the project.

NIJ CommTech assisted with the establishment of the regional governance structure.

NIJ is not providing funding for this project beyond manpower and minor site preparation.

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Piedmont Regional Voice over IP Pilot Project For more information contact:

Major R. D. Hairston (434) 799-6505 / hairsrd@ci.danville.va.us

Regional National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center: Northeast (Rome, NY) 888–338–0584 Southeast (Charleston, SC) 800–292–4385

NIJ CommTech –http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/topics/commtech/