PORT ANGELES — Clallam County has received a long-awaited solution to interagency shortfalls in emergency communications — a $5.8 million federal grant to build a communications loop around the Olympic Peninsula, including Jefferson County.
The grant, announced by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Thursday, will allow local public safety agencies to build a communications backbone which will enable all agencies to talk directly to each other via radio, a facet that currently does not exist in crisis communications on the North Olympic Peninsula.
“We’re very, very pleased,” Clallam County Undersheriff Joe Martin said Thursday. “We’ve got a big job ahead of us.”
Martin submitted the grant proposal last month and will be the coordinator for the Olympic Public Safety Communications Alliance Network (OPSCAN) project.
He plans to hold a meeting with all participating agencies next week to get the project started.
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The rest of the story appears in the Friday/Saturday Peninsula Daily News.