APCO International stalwart Donald Kottlowski has parlayed his lifelong interest in radio technology into a 38-year career serving his home state of Indiana.
Kottlowski has served in multiple offices, including chapter president, frequency coordinator and a regional advisor for 800 MHz and 700 MHz planning, for Indiana APCO and currently is APCO International Executive Council representative. He joined APCO early in his career and feels the association?s training and networking opportunities have been invaluable to him and many radio communications personnel in Indiana.
As a boy growing up in a farming family just outside Indianapolis, Kottlowski learned to value hard work and gained an ability to understand the hows and whys of gadgets.
?I liked to work on radios and electrical devices,? he says. ?I took them apart to see how they were put together, and then I figured out how to fix them.?
Ultimately, his interest led to a bachelor?s degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University, and several of his classmates worked in law enforcement.
?I enjoyed radio communications, but I never wanted to be a police officer,?
Kottlowski says. ?It was interesting to see how they operated and how closely connected they needed to be, and I decided working with public safety communications was what I wanted to do.?
Kottlowski joined the Indiana State Police in 1973, shortly after graduating. He worked in engineering and the dispatch center. Dually talented, he rose through the ranks as a communications officer, technician, supervisor, engineer and ultimately communications division commander.
In 2009, the state police radio technicians moved to an entirely new agency, the Integrated Public Safety Commission (IPSC), which is responsible for maintaining the state?s 800 MHz trunked system. IPSC also handles communications training and equipment maintenance for the state police. Kottlowski?s knowledge of Indiana?s communications systems and its needs led him to his current position as an IPSC communications analyst.
?We do have interoperability,? says Kottlowski. ?We share the radio system with all public safety agencies within Indiana providing mutual aid.?
Known for its car-racing culture and many highways meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana continued this fast-paced trend with its public safety communications. Seeking to address a deficiency in radio communications, state legislators decided to tie all public safety communications together in 1997 with Project Hoosier SAFE-T, a multi-year, tiered plan for interoperability.
By 2010, Indiana?s 92 counties, including more than 56,000 radios from
900 agencies, were linked on the statewide 800 MHz trunked voice and data system that supports both analog and digital operations. Currently, the state?s 153 communications sites provide 95% coverage.
Next on IPSC?s radar is next generation interoperability statewide. It will be designed similarly to the state?s current voice/data system, with the state providing the radio system infrastructure while users own and operate their own CAD and records management systems. Kottlowski says they?re geared up for data sharing between agencies, but are up against some of the same
problems as other entities also facing the federal narrowbanding mandate.
?We?re planning how to purchase next generation equipment, but will be using our old system to operate it,? Kottlowski says. ?The logistics already are in place. We?ve had some delays with rebanding, but we?ve finally got agreements in place, and we?re anxious to move ahead. It?s going to be a cooperative effort.?
Indiana?s interoperable mutual aid, pre-planning and a disaster response system became invaluable in 2002, when multiple radio towers across the state were taken out by severe weather. Kottlowski was among the radio specialists who aided in the recovery. Six years earlier, the area has been hit by severe weather that decimated the regional radio system. It took more than 96 hours to restore communications on then-incompatible systems. By the 2002 storms, it took technicians only seven hours to resume radio service, thanks to IPSC?s STAR-T system. They were also able to replace damaged radio towers via pre-planning and emergency funds.
?The two situations proved that the need for emergency funds and for emergency replacement of towers will work if you have a budget for new towers,? Kottlowski says. ?Otherwise, a post would be out of service.?
Kottlowski regrets not setting up a ham radio. Like many radio techs working in the public safety field, Kottlowski often interacts with hams during disaster situations and is impressed by how far technology has come.
?I had friends who had sets and always enjoyed learning about it, but I didn?t have time,? he says. ?Maybe I?ll set one up when I retire, who knows.?
About the Author
Courtney McCain has worked as a paramedic and an air medical dispatcher in Kansas and Texas. She is now a writer focusing on public safety issues. Contact her at kemsnews@everestkc.net.
This article first appeared in September 2011 Public Safety Communications.
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