The Department of Homeland Security has announced the results of a nationwide survey of first responders and law enforcement that assesses progress in achieving interoperable communications. The national interoperability baseline survey was issued to 22,400 randomly selected law enforcement, fire response and EMS agencies, and confirms that roughly two-thirds of emergency response agencies across the nation use interoperable communications to varying degrees.

"The survey reinforces the fact that interoperability is achievable," said DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff in a press release. "That technology works today and is available. The willingness of emergency response leaders and local officials to make this issue their priority is what will continue to drive progress on one of 9/11's most important lessons."

Key findings of the survey include:

• Approximately two-thirds of agencies reporting use interoperability to some degree.
• Agencies tend to be more developed in technology and certain governance-related interoperability areas than they are in standard operating procedures and exercises.
• Smaller agencies tend to be less advanced in interoperability than larger agencies.
• Law enforcement, fire response and EMS agencies tend to show the same level of interoperability development.
• Cross-discipline and cross-jurisdiction interoperability, at a local level, tends to be more advanced than levels of interoperability between local and state agencies.
• Agencies that operate on large, shared systems tend to be at more advanced stages of development than those that operate on standalone systems.
• Moderate levels of progress in technical approaches, implementation, exercises, command and control, and standard operating procedures correlate to more frequent and regular use of interoperability solutions.

The national interoperability baseline survey, conducted under the auspicies of the DHS’s SAFECOM program, was designed in partnership with the emergency response community and assessed stages of development in five areas: governance, standard operating procedures, technology, training and exercises, and usage. The survey had a statistically valid response rate of 30%, with more than 6,800 agencies responding. Participation in the survey was evenly split between law enforcement and fire response and EMS.

The full survey report is available in PDF format on the SAFECOM Web site.