Communication improves post 9/11

By ERICA BUCHMAN

On Sept. 11, 2001, Sari Weinstein was called to the main office because her father was on the phone and wanted to let her know that he was alright.  Her father, Jeremy Weinstein, worked in Manhattan but was well out of harm’s way.  He called the school because Sari, 14 at the time, did not have a cell phone.

“Not even a week later, my parents took me to the Verizon store and bought me my first cell phone,” recalls Weinstein.  “My parents realized that if there was an emergency and I wasn’t at home or in school, they would have no way to reach me.”

Weinstein’s parents were not alone in thinking such.  According to www.mindfully.org, cell phone sales jumped from 400 million units in 2001 to 423 million units in 2002.  From there, the jump was even greater the following year, with an increase to 520 million units.

Trouble at Ground Zero

The Weinsteins, however, were not the only ones who lacked in direct communication on Sept. 11.  As firemen and policemen arrived at the twin towers and began to attempt to put out the fire, problems began to manifest. Problems that were not readily fixed by the simple purchase of a cell phone.

According to Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn, co authors of 102 Minutes: The Unforgettable Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers, the combination of failing to work together and the difficulty in communicating between portable radios led to a great many changes and improvements within both the NYPD and the FDNY.

Change is everywhere

A dramatic increase in cell phone sales and modifications made to portable radios are not the only changes to have taken place among technology over the course of the past 10 years.  Joseph Farkas, a database administrator with the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), has seen firsthand the updates made on computers.

“After the towers fell, we lost communication among our New York Offices (we have one on Liberty Street and one on Lexington Avenue) because there was no redundancy,” Farkas explained.  “In other words, when the line went down, he had no alternative way to access it.  We temporarily lost the ability to email or retrieve any financial information, so we had to go through our Canadian office to get it.”

After Sept. 11, steps were taken to immediately ensure that the bank’s communication and data was never cut off again.

“First thing we did post Sept. 11 was set up multiple channels to access information,” Farkas recalled.  “If one channel went down, it automatically switched to another channel; something like that had never been set up before, there was never a need for it.”

Nowadays, businesses everywhere are making sure to back up their records, lest anything happen to make their information inaccessible.

“Even today, a lot of companies are doing hot back ups, meaning that the minute their data is being stored on one site, it’s automatically replicated and saved to a back up site with the help of what’s known as Disaster Recovery Software.”

Policemen keep in contact

Capt. Robert Sinnaeve has been on the force for 23 years. Photo by Erica Buchman

Since the issues that arose on Sept. 11, police officers have since updated the technology used to keep in contact with not only other officers, but with firemen as well.  Capt. Robert Sinnaeve of the Mahwah Police Department has acknowledged the technological changes that have occurred over the past decade. Click here to listen to Capt. Sinnaeve

“There certainly have been improvements made to our equipment over the past ten years,” stated Sinnaeve.  “Within our own infrastructure (we call interoperability), every police officer has the capability to speak to the fire department on their portables and vice versa.”

However, the fire department is not the sole contact on the police’s portables.

“We have four channels on the radio: the police, the fire department, Emergency Management, and the Department of Public Works. So with Hurricane Irene, for example, everyone was able to speak with everyone else, simply by switching to the appropriate the channel on the radio,” said Sinnaeve.

Firemen prepare to liaise

After Sept. 11, firemen made significant changes to their training program, as well as their relationship with the police.  Frank Dwyer, a spokesperson for the FDNY Office of Public information, acknowledges the importance of cooperation between policemen and firemen.

“Since Sept. 11, new protocols between New York City agencies include placement of a liaison at the FDNY and NYPD,” Dwyer stated.  “The FDNY has a Captain assigned to the NYPD as a liaison, and the NYPD has a Captain assigned to the FDNY. This has helped increase interagency cooperation and communication.”

Prior to, and on Sept. 11, the NYPD rarely–if ever–told firefighters what the situation was when they flew around a high rise that was on fire.  Today, the lines of communication are always open between firemen and the police.

Dwyer went on to describe the methods of communication used between the two agencies.

“On any second alarm fire, an FDNY Battalion Chief responds to an NYPD helicopter to be placed in the air over the incident. The Battalion Chief is able to relay information to the command post of the fire, as well as FDNY headquarters to give a greater amount of information about the fire scene. The FDNY also accesses live feeds from NYC TV news helicopters through agreements with news stations. Once again, this helps our Chiefs get a better handle on the fire operation as it unfolds.”

The NYPD is not the only agency to liaise with the FDNY.

“More than ever before, emphasis is placed on interagency drills with others groups including, the NYPD, the New York City Office of Emergency Management, the New York and New Jersey Port Authority and the US Military.”

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