Our Mission
IPSC’s mission is to facilitate statewide public safety communications. IPSC provides interoperable and reliable public safety communications systems to all Hoosier first responders and public safety professionals for use during routine, emergency and disaster situations. Our goal is to strengthen community safety and security by minimizing the financial and technological barriers to interoperable communications through interagency cooperation.
Saving Money, Saving Lives
When Hoosier families are in danger because of natural disaster, crime or medical emergencies, response time is measured in lives, not seconds. And when a firefighter is trapped in a burning building or a police officer needs backup, the ability to get immediate help can mean the difference between life and death.
Our Vision
Police, Firefighters, EMS and other public safety personnel are highly trained professionals. Usually, they are armed with the best safety gear possible as they perform their jobs protecting and saving Hoosiers.
All the knowledge in the world and top-of-the-line safety gear means nothing, however, if a safety professional is stranded without efficient and reliable communications. If the firefighters inside the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 had had interoperable radios, they would have heard the order to evacuate that was issued over police radios. The inability to communicate was cited as a major reason so many firefighters lost their lives that tragic day.
This is a drastic example of a problem that the Integrated Public Safety Commission is addressing through Project Hoosier SAFE-T. In many towns, local police can’t communicate over the radio with county or state police. If firefighters need backup from another county, there’s no radio link. Emergency technicians and other first responders can’t talk with the firefighters or police on the scene during a natural disaster such as a tornado.
SAFE-T is...
a statewide, interoperable, wireless public safety communications system for Indiana local, state, and federal first responders/public safety officials. SAFE-T, a P25, Motorola 7.16 ASTRO Smartzone 700/800mhz trunked voice and data system, provides mission critical communications with 95% portable on the street and mobile coverage to its users across the state. SAFE-T leverages more than 175 communications sites, connected by T1 and AVPN lines with microwave backhaul. In 2020, the system will be upgraded to ASTRO release 7.18, taking SAFE - T to the Next Level in communication capabilities and feature expansion.
SAFE-T allows seamless, interoperable and reliable communications among local, state, and federal public safety agencies during routine, emergency and task force situations. SAFE-T strengthens community safety and security, minimize costs and barriers to communications, and break down regionalization of systems to combat crime, natural disaster and terrorism. SAFE-T was designed to include wide voluntary participation of public safety agencies/first responders while respecting local autonomy.
25 Years of SAFE-T
Twenty-five years ago, in 1999, the Indiana General Assembly created the Integrated Public Safety Commission (IC 5-26). Back then, it wasn't uncommon for different agencies within the same geographical area or discipline to have their own dedicated radio communications system. Many agencies were using low-band VHF, a few were using UHF and 800 MHz. But the overall problem was that not everyone could talk to each other in the event an incident expanded beyond their agency, or local area or county.
Thankfully, public safety leaders in the state had a vision. Since 1990, the Indiana State Police had been gradually building an 800 MHz system but progress was slow and delayed due to funding. In 1997, the Indiana General Assembly appropriated $7.5 million to the Indiana State Police to build the next phase of the project, but the superintendent, Mel Carraway, took a fresh look at the radio communications problem before proceeding. Over the next couple of years, several statewide summits were held, bringing together hundreds of public safety professionals and elected officials from local, state and federal agencies, representing all disciplines and jurisdictions, to discuss the future of public safety communications. The resulting Statewide Public Safety Voice/Data Communications System Strategic Plan (1998) laid the foundation for what would become a national model for the shared system approach to solving the lack of interoperable communications.
The state issued an RFP in in 1999, eight vendors responded, and Motorola was chosen to build out Indiana's 126-site statewide Safety- Acting for Everyone, Together (SAFE-T) public safety communications system. In 2000, in an unprecedented show of support, 68 counties formed 12 consortiums and applied to become a part of SAFE-T's demonstration project. But while support was high, sources of funding were not.
Then, on September 11, 2001, the coordinated terrorist attacks on America exposed deep gaps in the country's ability to respond to large disasters. Chief among those gaps was the ability for first responders to communicate. Firefighters lost their lives because they did not receive the same evacuate order that law enforcement received in the Twin Towers. This tragic fact, more than anything, spurred the Indiana General Assembly to create a dedicated source of funding for SAFE-T. HEA 1001, passed in March of 2002, designated a portion of existing BMV fees to help fund system implementation.
Fast forward to 2024. In these past 25 years, a staggering amount of progress has been made, both technologically and in terms of improved cooperation and coordination. SAFE-T has grown from an idea in the minds of visionaries into a public safety land mobile radio system that has served as the national model for other states. Now the SAFE-T system has modern technology like Smart Connect and Critical Connect to allow first responders more paths to communication and interoperability and we’ll continue to progress in the years to come. Here’s to 25 years of “saving money, saving lives” and continued growth!