*Pages 1--1 from  Microsoft Word - 15747*
 1 
 STATEMENT  OF  COMMISSIONER  MICHAEL  J.  COPPS 
 March  14,  2002 
 RE:  Improving  Public  Safety  Communications  in  the  800  MHz  Band;  Consolidating  the  900  MHz  Industrial/  Land  Transportation  and  Business  Pool  Channels 
 (adopted  March  14,  2002). 
 I  strongly  support  finding  a  way  to  reduce  interference  to  public  safety  users  in  the  800  MHz  band.  We  are  all  paying  far  more  attention  to  public  safety  this  year,  and 
 rightfully  so.  Here  we  have  already  assigned  spectrum  to  our  critical  public  safety  users.  The  spectrum  is  saving  lives  in  the  hands  of  policemen,  firemen,  and  public  safety 
 workers  across  the  country.  Now  we  also  must  take  the  next  step  and  make  sure  that  we  allow  the  public  safety  community  to  rely  on  using  the  800  MHz  spectrum  with  an 
 acceptable  amount  of  interference.  I  look  forward  to  commenters  helping  us  discover  the  right  path. 


 I’m  also  glad  that  we’re  asking  the  question  of  how  the  Commission  is  progressing  in  meeting  public  safety  spectrum  needs  more  generally.  Promoting  public 
 safety  is  one  of  the  primary  duties  of  the  Commission.  In  order  to  do  our  job  well  we  need  to  know  how  much  spectrum  public  safety  needs  to  protect  our  citizens.  We  have, 
 in  addition  to  the  800  MHz  band,  acted  in  the  unquestionably  complicated  700  MHz  band  and  recently  in  the  4.9  GHz  band.  Is  this  the  right  amount  of  spectrum?  I  hope  that 
 commenters  will  help  us  with  this  inquiry  as  well. 
1