Emergency responders may include fire department personnel, police department personnel, emergency medical services personnel, HAZMAT teams and the like. Emergency responders use communication equipment to coordinate assistance and security during times of crisis, including fires, riots, terrorist attacks, chemical spills, etc. In an effort to make emergency communications more useful and reliable, steps are being taken to standardize the communication equipment used by emergency responders. For example, Project 25 (P25) is a standardization program managed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. A goal of the P25 program is to standardize emergency communication equipment.
Emergency communication equipment used by emergency responders is becoming more powerful, with features keeping pace with technology development in communications equipment generally. In addition, many of the emergency communication devices used by emergency responders are mobile devices.
Emergency communication equipment can pose a great risk if a malicious person were to obtain such equipment. For example, a terrorist may steal communications equipment from emergency responders or their vehicles. The mobile nature of some of the devices may make a theft easier to perpetrate. Once a terrorist has gained possession of an emergency communication device, the terrorist may then use the emergency communication device to hamper, track or otherwise use emergency services information for their own end.
Thus, there exists a need to protect society from the malicious use of emergency communication equipment. Although the present disclosure describes with particular reference and application to emergency communication devices, the claimed embodiments are not intended to be limited to emergency communication devices.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds