Political Quotes

“I have had 11 different meetings from Detroit--large urban areas--to Macomb County, all the way up to Marquette in the upper peninsula, and over to the west side of the State. This report talks about only 50 percent of our firefighters having the radio equipment they need. I heard firsthand from the folks on the ground, and I am not sure it is even 50 percent. They talked about in some cases the fire department could not talk to the police department in the same city, that the city could not talk to the county. When we call 911, we expect that call is going to lead to a series of other communications, that it is going to get the right people to us, and that we are going to be able to respond quickly. In the case of a bioterrorism attack, the public health department, of course, is very concerned about the inability to communicate with the fire department. And it is not that they do not have radios; it is that they do not have interoperability. They do not have the same frequency. They do not have the same technology. There is newer and newer technology that allows them to communicate ideally all across the whole State. We hope we will be developing communications equipment that will have everybody in the county being able to talk to each other and able to talk around the entire State. But the radios, the communications systems were a major issue in those meetings.”