Development from the Ground Up RNC MultiAgency Communication Center

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Developed from the Ground UpRNC Multi-Agency
Communication Center

• Todays panel discussion will lay out how we
  planned the RNC
• Dispatch Center from the ground up.
• Panel members
• Brian Tollin, Hennepin County Sheriffs Office
• Scott Williams, Ramsey County Emergency
  Communications
• Marsha Pacolt, Ramsey County Emergency
  Communications
• Heather Hunt, Minneapolis Emergency
  Communications

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Developed from the Ground UpRNC Multi-Agency
Communication Center

• The Republican National Convention was held in
  St. Paul, Minnesota from September 1 4, 2008.
• Planning for event security began in 2007.
• Facilitation of a series of meetings with 5 of
  the largest PSAPs first quarter 2008.
• How are we going to dispatch this thing called
  the REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION through
  multiple PSAPs?
• Answer became quite evident. We would need to
  construct and
• set up a temporary PSAP.
• End result was a multi-agency, multi-discipline
  RNC Dispatch Center.

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from the Ground Up

• Communications Plan
• APCO P-25 digital 800MHz trunked radio network.
• Interoperability subcommittee represented 19
  agencies involved in event security with focus on
  the following areas
• Communications inter-operability,
• Protection of communications critical
  infrastructure,
• RF interference tracking,
• Video network development,
• MACC security.
• RNC would be the largest event ever handled by
  the ARMER system.
• Internal vulnerability assessment of the radio
  network and antenna sites.

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from the Ground Up

• System security enhancements
• Increased security of certain antenna sites,
• Changing passwords,
• Continuous system monitoring to detect intrusion
  attempts.
• The goal of the communications plan was to strike
  the right balance between having too many or too
  few talkgroups.
• Plan used most of the regional level
  interoperability talkgroups and about half of the
  state level interoperability talkgroups.
• Plan was discussed with system managers, users,
  and dispatch center operations staff to refine
  the details and gain acceptance months before the
  event.

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from the Ground Up

• RNC COML
• First version of the ICS205 Radio Communications
  Plan was prepared in April 2008.
• Wireless or 800MHz ARMER radio system?
• Talk group assignments.
• Limitations of the ARMER radio system.
• 2,400 radios during peak staffing periods.

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from the Ground Up

• RNC Dispatch Center
• The training room at the RCECC would become the
  RNC Dispatch Center.
• Temporary dispatch workstations were in a general
  U configuration with a whiteboard map situated
  at the top of the U.
• Adjacent to the training room was a smaller
  conference room that would serve as the Mobile
  Field Force Command Post.
• Temporary switch was installed and a provisional
  T-1 supported 24 phone numbers for RNC Dispatch
  and MFF Command Post.
• Variety of sources provided video feeds used
  extensively by theMFF Command Post in
  maintaining situational awarenessover a large
  area.

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from the Ground Up

• Motorola radio consoles vs. desktop radios.
• Staffing the RNC Dispatch Center came from the 5
  PSAPs involved in the planning.
• 10 hour schedule was used with minimum staffing
  from 0300 to 1000. Up to 15 dispatchers on at
  one time.
• Whiteboards, magnets and paper logs were used to
  track MFF units. Paper logs were quickly
  abandoned in favor of typing notes in Microsoft
  Notepad.
• Temporary air conditioning units installed.

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from the Ground Up

• Execution of the Plan
• The trunked radio system performed extremely
  well.
• LTAC3 channel use often exceeded 50 minutes per
  hour. On two occasions channel use hit 58
  minutes per hour.
• Reasons why
• System does not allow one radio to key up over
  another user must wait for channel grant tone
  before proceeding with a transmission
• Dispatcher using a fully integrated dispatch
  console has transmit priority over a mobile or
  portable.

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from the Ground Up

• Co-located RNC Dispatch and MFF Command
• Co-location exceeded our expectation on the
  number of people in the center each day.
• MFF Command Post support staff and liaison
  officers,
• Expectation of agencies providing large numbers
  of officers for the MFF to be represented in the
  MFF Command.
• Also present were representatives from St. Paul
  Fire, St. Paul Public Works, National Guard and
  US Secret Service.
• RNC Dispatch did not have enough space to
  properly accommodate the joint command and
  dispatch function.

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from the Ground Up

• Co-location was enormously successful.
• Arrangement was instrumental to successful
  tactical communications for MFF Command.
• For the most part Dispatchers would relay
  instructions to field units directly from the
  Commanders.
• Occasionally the Commander would get on air with
  instructions.
• Commanders and dispatchers quickly got accustomed
  to this arrangement and worked as a team.

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from the Ground Up

• RNC Transportation Command Post
• TCP was developed late in the planning process.
• Designed to monitor traffic flow in/around the
  Xcel Center utilizing highway/freeway cameras,
  Minneapolis/St. Paul city cameras for the safety
  of delegate buses.
• July 2008 RNC Dispatch was contacted to house TCP
  at their site.
• Other locations were explored and the Traffic
  Management Center in Roseville was selected.
• Dispatchers would be needed to monitor bus and
  checkpoint radio traffic.

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from the Ground Up

• RNC Transportation Command Post Dispatch Center
• Responsible to handle communications for the 150
  RNC delegate buses.
• Dispatchers were provided by the Minnesota State
  Patrol.
• 12 hour schedule was used with two dispatchers
  working 1000 to 0000 from August 31 to
  September 5, 2008.
• Dispatchers would relay instructions to
  appropriate units directly from the Commanders.
• Earlier expectations of TCP not having a great
  deal of radio traffic proved incorrect. Both were
  very active locations when buses were in
  operation.

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from the Ground Up

• Mobile Field Force Training Sessions
• Two multi-agency practice drills were conducted.
• Drill organizers required officers to utilize the
  same talkgroups that would be employed during the
  event.
• This proved to be beneficial to the testing of
  these communications resources and contributed
  directly to the final decisions regarding the
  type and number of talkgroups.
• All dispatchers assigned to the RNC Dispatch
  Center were required to attend one of these
  training sessions.
• Tracking of MFF Units proved difficult at the
  first training session and many lessons were
  learned.
• Whiteboards, magnets and paper logs were used at
  the second training session with much success.

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from the Ground Up

• Keys to Success
• Having MFF and TCP Commanders in direct contact
  with the dispatchers resulted in great teamwork
  and the ability to respond effectively to rapidly
  changing situations.
• Sufficient number of talented, experienced
  dispatchers and support staff. One Commander was
  quoted as saying I knew you had good people, but
  I didnt know they were this good.
• An excellent radio system, console priority and
  ability of a system to prevent radios from keying
  over each other.
• Quality video from a wide selection of cameras
  enabled command posts and the MACC to maintain
  situational awareness.

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from the Ground Up

• Flexibility to adapt to changing situations and
  modify operational plans on the fly to address
  problems.
• Working on a communications plan and involvement
  of key stakeholders early in the planning process
  helped achieve support for the final
  communications plan.
• Involving experts on communications
  interoperability and the collaboration of
  technical experts and operations staff made the
  plan successful
• Having the MACC as a central clearing house for
  information and as a go to resource was very
  helpful to the many command posts.
• Early planning of the RNC Dispatch Center.

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from the Ground Up

• Lessons Learned
• More space was needed to accommodate a co-located
  RNC Dispatch and MFF Command Operations.
• The use of smart boards would have added the
  much needed flexibility to rescale the base map.
• Better coordination between the motorcades and
  MFF Operations.
• Lacking coordination between Central District
  Patrol squads and MFF Units.
• This was solved on the first day by having a
  sergeant act as a liaison between the Central
  District Dispatcher and MFF Command.

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from the Ground Up

• Difficulty for dispatchers to keep up with paper
  logs.
• Keyboard entry preferred and if not using CAD an
  alternate method is needed to track unit status
  and movement.
• Organized opposition groups will scan operations
  talkgroups and pass along that intelligence to
  their people at or near real time.
• In designing a co-located room consideration
  should be given to keeping non-communications
  support staff and liaison staff away from
  dispatchers.
• Transportation Command should be part of the RNC
  Dispatch Center.

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• If the communications plan includes non-repeated
  channels ensure they are tested thoroughly for
  coverage reliability.
• If the communications plan includes non-repeated
  channels ensure they are tested thoroughly for
  coverage reliability.
• Do not be too dependent on new and unproven
  technology or services.
• A new cellular service was used for event
  security and the results were disappointing.
• Important for the separate command posts to be
  able to monitor primary MFF operational
  talkgroups.

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from the Ground Up

• Questions?
• Presentation Code No 2193