Captain Alan Melvin
(phone) 919-662-4440
(fax) 919-662-4444

Mailing Address:
4702 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27669-4702

Physical Address:
3318 Garner Rd. Bldg. #2
Raleigh, NC 27610

VIPER
Voice Interoperability Plan for Emergency Responders

Interoperable communications was identified in the General Assembly's Criminal Justice Information Network report of 1995 as a critical need for public safety agencies when responding to emergencies.

After the attack on the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001, it became even clearer that public safety officials needed to have the ability to communicate with one another on a single radio.

From the report by the National Commission on the Terrorist Attacks on the United States:

The National Governor's Association Center for Best Practices has identified interoperable communications as one of the nation's top ten homeland security priorities:

The National Task Force on Interoperability defined interoperability as:

Public safety officials in North Carolina should be able to communicate directly with other public safety officials without having to relay the message through a communications center.

When put in place, interoperable communications will benefit all public safety agencies when dealing with daily emergency calls or large scale disasters. This will make fire, rescue, and law enforcement agencies better able to serve the citizens of North Carolina.

CCPS Secretary Bryan Beatty, the state's homeland security director, has charged the Highway Patrol with developing and implementing two communications strategies; a short-term (Tactical) and long-term (Strategic) plan.

The Tactical communications solution is the implementation of 17 communications gateways across North Carolina to link disparate radio systems together as a temporary solution until the statewide Strategic plan can be implemented.

The Strategic communications solution is the construction of a statewide 800 MHz radio system that will provide interoperable communications for all public safety agencies in North Carolina.

The decision to implement VIPER as the interoperable radio communication system in North Carolina was made in conjunction with the state’s key local government and public safety associations.

Sec. Beatty consulted leaders of the N.C. Association of County Commissioners, the N.C. League of Municipalities, the Metropolitan Coalition, and the N.C. Sheriffs Association in making the decision to allocate a portion of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security funds to the project.

In addition, the Criminal Justice Information Network Governing Board, the Governor’s Crime Commission, and the State Emergency Response Commission – which includes representatives from state agencies and the Emergency Management Association, the Sheriff’s Association, the Police Chiefs Association, the Fire Chiefs Association, and the Emergency Medical Services Administrators – have identified interoperable communications as a priority for improved public safety in North Carolina.

Cost avoidance opportunities for local agencies

Since the state is building the VIPER infrastructure, local agencies at the city and county level will be able to upgrade their communications systems and achieve interoperability without major outlay for infrastructure. Example:

Q: Will there be voice and text pager capabilities with VIPER?

A: No. Unfortunately, the technology used for 800 MHz trunked radio systems does not allow for a paging solution. Agencies requiring paging will have to continue to support their existing paging system. However, where available, tower space will be offered to VIPER participants on State Highway Patrol owned towers for local agency paging antennas.

Q: Will there be a cost to use the VIPER network?

A: The success of VIPER depends on our partnerships with state and local agencies, and the sharing of existing resources which may range from property to build the towers on to re-use of existing towers. These in-kind contributions will help keep the overall cost of construction lower than if we had to buy property and build new towers where state owned towers are not available.

It was those partnerships that allowed the state to build the statewide mobile data network for less that $20m as compared to the estimate in 1993 of more than $100m for the state to build the infrastructure.

Our goal is not to ask the locals for free use of their land and/or towers and then require them to pay to use the system. We don’t want to find ourselves in a situation where all our partners demand that we pay them for their resources so they can pay a users’ fee. Additionally, there are many rural area departments that would not be able to pay a user fee and therefore would not be able to participate in VIPER at all.

Yes, but not as efficient.

Leased commercially owned private radio system:

This involves a vendor building a statewide radio system for public safety and charging a user fee for each and every user. Too expensive. The estimated fee for each radio on the network would exceed $75.00 per month.

Public Radio Systems

Another alternative is Nextel. However, the estimated number of towers needed to cover ALL NC could exceed 600. Return on investment for vendors would not be reasonably realized for rural areas. Not compliant with public safety APCO 25 Standards.

Satellite technology does have one advantage over typical trunked radio systems in that it is not terrestrial based. However, the primary drawback to satellite systems is that the radio must be in constant view of the sky. This would eliminate operation inside buildings or in areas of dense foliage or during heavy rainfall or intense cloud cover.

VIPER Partnerships

The following localities have partnered with VIPER: