Overview
The Electronic Services Division (ESD) delivers public safety communication services and exemplary customer service to the Washington State Patrol and its partner agencies throughout the state of Washington. ESD operates and maintains the agency’s statewide land mobile radio (LMR), microwave, data, and voice (telephony) networks. ESD supports over 2500 mobile and portable radios, 45 communications consoles at eight communications centers, network connectivity to 63 offices and two data centers, and maintains over 120 communication sites statewide. ESD also maintains interoperability and connectivity with over 40 federal, state, and local agencies.
Key Measurements and Statistics
To date, ESD has upgraded the network bandwidth at 17 WSP facilities with another 22 facilities in progress with completion dates in the first half of 2021. In addition, 23 WSP facilities are on upgraded network connections. ESD upgraded the site battery systems at 33 of our communication sites with 21 additional upgrades scheduled through the end of Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21).
Successes of 2020
Land Mobile Radio (LMR) Upgrade: ESD, in conjunction with the FBI and Motorola project teams, completed the upgrade of our LMR system in July 2020. Our LMR system is at the current vendor supported version with an upgraded interoperable connection to the FBI’s nationwide radio system. We also upgraded our connectivity to Pierce County, improving interoperable communications through the Central Puget Sound Region. We continue to interoperate throughout the state with partners like KCERCs, Sno911, SRECS, CRESA, MACC, and other state/local agencies. We also established a long-term upgrade agreement with Motorola to maintain state-of-the-art capabilities for the LMR system over multiple biennia.
Network Connectivity Upgrades: ESD, in conjunction with the Information Technology Division (ITD) and WaTech, provisioned upgraded network connections for over 50% of our district and detachment offices, crime labs, and points of entry (POE)/scale houses. The optimization of services simplifies the agency’s network infrastructure, provides a conduit for integration of new technologies, and provides much needed capabilities to State Patrol employees statewide. We are poised to have 75% of our offices on upgraded connections by the end of FY21 and have requested resources to complete this upgrade in the 2021-23 biennium.
COVID-19 Pandemic: ESD and ITD collaborated throughout 2020, enabling the agency’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. From February to May, ESD and ITD added remote work capabilities across the agency’s divisions, enabling employees to transition to remote work while maintaining support to Washingtonians across the state. In addition, added capabilities like additional NetMotion licensing and server space, expanded use of Cisco’s Jabber application, and adding Zoom collaboration tools enabled our agency to cost effectively migrate to remote work.
Cybersecurity: ESD and ITD collaborated closely with the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO), Office of Cybersecurity (OCS), and WaTech during the state’s response to multiple cybersecurity threats in 2020. A large-scale email phishing campaign was mitigated through close collaboration and adding additional toolsets like Microsoft’s Advanced Threat Protection capabilities. WSP’s network remained secured and fully available throughout 2020. ESD and ITD enabled an immediate response to the Orion SolarWinds “sunburst” vulnerability, which resulted in more robust network monitoring capabilities as well as additional automation tools, which has greatly enabled us to protect, provision, and maintain our network.
Incident Response and Interoperability: ESD collaborated closely with FOB and PMD to support the agency’s response to civil unrest throughout the Puget Sound region in the latter half of 2020. ESD distributed radios, batteries, and even delivered much needed supplies to troopers in the Seattle area. Additionally, ESD collaborated closely with Capitol campus agencies to support interoperable communications across the campus during the election season in late 2020. ESD heavily leveraged the Radio over IP (RoIP) Gateway and Verizon’s PTT+ application to enable interoperable and in-building communications across various agencies. ESD also developed strategic plans to replace aging mobile and portable radios and will explore expanding the use of new technologies, like Verizon PTT+ and LMR over LTE, to resolve long-standing interoperability challenges during 2021.