WHEREAS, the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) represents over 18,000 law enforcement professionals in the United States and throughout the world; and

WHEREAS, in September 1996, the Public Safety Wireless Advisory Committee (PSWAC) documented a need for additional spectrum to meet the communications needs of the public safety community; and

WHEREAS, in response to this demonstrated need and requirements, with support from the IACP, Major Cities Chiefs, and the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO), Congress directed, in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allocate four TV Channels (24 MHz) of spectrum for exclusive public safety use; and

WHEREAS, in December 1997, the FCC allocated 764-776 and 794-806 MHz for such use; and

WHEREAS, the FCC requires that all narrowband mobile and portable 746 MHz band public safety radios be capable of operating on all of the narrowband interoperability channels; and

WHEREAS, actual access to this 24 MHz of spectrum within the 764-806 MHz band to deploy public safety communications systems requires determination of an interoperability standard by the Public Safety National Coordinating Committee (NCC); and

WHEREAS, there is a realization within the public safety community that technical standards for interoperability must be accompanied by operational standards to implement successful multi-agency response strategies; and

WHEREAS, operational requirements mandate nationally standardized nomenclature and structure; and

WHEREAS, the Incident Command System (ICS) is a sound concept that has a proven track record of success over more than 30 years of development throughout North America; and

WHEREAS, ICS allows users to effectively manage and combat incidents by providing a simple and consistent organizational plan that is fully scalable and applicable to any size or type of emergency or non-emergency incident requiring the support of public safety entities; and

WHEREAS, ICS can provide significant benefit when used by public safety agencies to manage priority access to the interoperability spectrum, or as a component of a new or existing Incident Radio Communications Plan; and

WHEREAS, the NCC Interoperability Subcommittee has recommended that the FCC mandate the use of standard ICS nomenclature and structure (as adopted by FEMA and others) in the use of the ICS System; and

WHEREAS, the NCC Interoperability Subcommittee has recommended that the FCC require that plain language be used at all times for ICS communications; and

WHEREAS, the NCC Interoperability Subcommittee has recommended that the FCC mandate the use of priority access protocols for all ICS communications plans; now therefore be it

RESOLVED, that the International Association of Chiefs of Police, at the annual business meeting on November 15, 2000, in San Diego, California, recommends that the Federal Communications Commission immediately adopt the Incident Command System as the mandatory operational standard for use in multi-agency responses on interoperability channels within spectrum assigned to the Public Safety Radio Services in the United States.