Stimulus package does not target public safety

Stimulus package does not target public safety
Urgent Communications - Overland Park,USA

The one exception to this is the broadband portion of the legislation, which includes language that the stimulus money may be used to "improve access to, and use of, broadband service by public-safety agencies," according to the text of the Senate bill.

While public safety is mentioned in the broadband section, it is only one of many areas mentioned as an eligible recipient of the broadband funding, said Courtney McCarron, spokesperson for the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO).

"The grant program mentions the term 'public safety,'" McCarron said yesterday during an interview with Urgent Communications. "I guess that can be left up to interpretation, but it is focused on consumer technology."

McCarron also said that APCO does not believe the legislation language allows for any stimulus money to be used to pay for public-safety narrowband technologies. ...