FOWLER’S FCC

Calendar published an article focusing on the deregulatory agenda of the Federal Communications Commission under retired Chairman Mark S. Fowler (April 25).

It stressed the commission’s impact primarily on the broadcast industry, pointing out that some people believe the application of free-market forces in the Federal regulatory process was long overdue. Others questioned the wisdom of the deregulatory approach and damn the FCC for its abandonment of traditional spectrum allocation and communications industry oversight policies.

Of at least equal and perhaps greater importance to the public has been the impact of FCC efforts under Mark Fowler to define and address the immediate and long-term communications needs of the nation’s public safety services, including those of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Radio communications is a vital link in the process of government, providing safety services to the citizens of our country. Unfortunately, public safety administrators, particularly those of us from major metropolitan areas, found in the early 1980s that our radio communications capabilities were severely hampered by the lack of additional radio frequencies to meet expanding requirements.

Recognizing the critical nature of this problem, and spurred on by keen congressional interest in the quality of public safety services, the FCC under Fowler moved forward on several fronts to attack the problem.

The commission entered into extensive fact-finding process to determine public safety’s communications needs, allocated substantial quantities of radio spectrum exclusively for public safety use, and is now preparing a comprehensive plan for the utilization of that spectrum to accommodate public safety needs to the year 2000 and beyond.

Here in Los Angeles County, the FCC allocated an entire unused television channel to be utilized for public safety radio communications. This spectrum will be used by the Sheriff’s Department as part of its new Mobile Digital Communications System, a state-of-the-art communications network that will speed law enforcement services to the public and significantly enhance the safety of our officers.

Ex-Chairman Fowler deserves significant credit for these accomplishments. However, even greater credit must go to FCC commissioner and now FCC Chairman Dennis R. Patrick. Patrick, a native of Southern California, has been an articulate and ardent supporter of public safety. Perhaps more than anyone, he served as the “guiding light” during the Fowler years in FCC efforts to address public safety communications requirements.

Irrespective of one’s view of Fowler’s deregulation philosophy, all must agree that the actions by the FCC on behalf of public safety will significantly enhance the quality of safety services provided to the American public. I, for one, take my hat off to Fowler, Patrick and the entire FCC staff.

SHERMAN BLOCK

Sheriff, Los Angeles County