Signing And Distribution Of Winnebago County Ticp

 Narrative:  In March, 2009, Winnebago County was awarded a grant from the Illinois Terrorism Task Force (ITTF) through the Interoperable Emergency Communications Grant Program (IECGP) to develop a County-wide Tactical Interoperable Communications Plan (TICP.)  The grant encompassed the development, planning, training, and exercise of TICP’s.  All first response agencies (law enforcement, fire, EMS) and well as governmental units (municipalities, townships) and some private industry and utilities in Winnebago County came together and established a governance body to complete this task. Winnebago County recognizes the need for immediate interagency communications, interoperability, and cooperation.  Effective prevention, protection, response and recovery to incidents, whether natural or man-made, mandate instant interoperability and cooperation from local Winnebago County Agencies to federal response agencies.  Effective communication requires coordination, collaboration, and a method of resolving conflicts.  The TICP is intended to document the interoperable communication resources available to Winnebago County entities, who controls each resource, and what rules of use or operational procedures exist for the activation and deactivation of each resource.  Many of the assets identified in this plan are also available to county and local agencies.  This plan is consistent with State and Federal plans, so as incidents expand and evolve there is a seamless transition with communications. The development of this TICP was a cooperative effort by a working group comprised of representatives from each of the Winnebago County Agencies participating in the Plan, with Sheriff Meyers serving as Executive Committee chairman.  The make-up of the   

  workgroups ensured that the interests and needs of each participating agency were addressed during development of the plan. A draft of the plan was exercised on May 15, 2010 at the disaster drill at the Chicago Rockford Airport and during that process all of the objectives were met.  The document was submitted to the State of Illinois for approval, and has been completed. On Friday, October 29, 2010 at 2:00 PM, the Executive Committee and Steering Committee will meet to sign and distribute the plan to each participating Agency in Winnebago County.  The media is invited to this event, which will be held in the first floor classroom of the Winnebago County Justice Center.