Collaborative Networks and the Alaska Land Mobile Radio System: A Framework for Analyzing Inter-Agency People Problems Which Frustrate Public Safety Interoperability

Abstract

Human factors are often emphasized as foremost among barriers to achieving interoperable communications. This paper places analysis of public safety interoperability in the broader discussion of collaborative networks, where entities bridge organizational boundaries, combine resources, and pursue joint goals. The paper focuses on tensions surrounding initiatives where an agency – typically an agency built to resolve problems within its jurisdictional boundaries – attempts to capture 21st Century network effects by working across jurisdictional boundaries. Issues arising from this tension – so called “people-problems” – can be best understood through the prism of a coherent framework which identifies the risks and incentive-related problems of collaborative networks. We provide such a framework for public safety by identifying salient concepts such as risk factors, dimensions of trust, as well as principal-agent and collective action issues. Analyzed through this framework, the Alaska Land Mobile Radio System (“ALMR”) presents a notable case study: ALMR features inter- jurisdictional cooperation which has produced spectrum pooling, infrastructure sharing and interoperability across multiple agencies. While a laudable effort, however, our analysis indicates that it is dubious whether the ALMR model could be simply implemented wholesale in most parts of the United States. Nonetheless, ALMR’s 12-year history of interoperability efforts presents a rich study of “people problems” that is instructive for policy-makers seeking tools to achieve public safety interoperability.