Shooting at Nation’s Capitol Points to Radios

The shooting death of a woman the Capitol Building in Washington (DC) last week has raised questions about security, including how the various participating law enforcement agencies are linked by radio. The District of Columbia has the most law enforcement agencies of any single jurisdiction in the nation, and each is using its own radio system. Often those radio systems are in different radio bands and use different transmission technologies. As a result, tadio interoperability among agencies in DC is uncommon. Last Thursday, police shot and killed Miriam Carey, 34, after she made two attempts to breach barricades in her car, once at an outer White House check-point, and then about two minutes later at the Capitol Building. During that time, she encountered Secret Service agents and officers from the Capitol Police the District’s Metropolitan Police Department. The Secret Service uses a mostly encrypted digital system in the 160 MHz band, while the Capitol Police use an analog system in the 160 MHz band. The DC police are migrating from an 800 MHz Project 16 trunked system to a 700 MHz Project 25 system with about 50 talkgroups. An NBC News story says that the three agencies involved in the shooting incident were unable to directly communicate as Carey was driving from one location to another, which could have affected the outcome of the incident. The story also details how the project has been delayed and is now almost $50 million over budget.