Dunbar Chief of Police, Earl Whittington says,"If it's not broke, don't fix it. But you can always improve. "

Chief Whittington knows how frustrating it can get when communication breaks down during an emergency.

"Anytime you take the time to call one person who's gotta call another person who's gotta call another person to relay the information then the situation takes a lot longer." says Whittington.

But Verizon and CISCO designed a new service that enables all public safety personnel to communicate on a single network. This allows federal, state, and local safety organizations to work together better.

Verizon Regional Sales Manager Jerri Nibert says her company is happy to play a role.

Nibert says, "It was the perfect time for it, it was a good solution and of course Verizon business did bring it to the table as well.

West Virginia Director of Homeland Security, Jimmy Gianato says, developing the state of the art program became necessary after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Sago Mine incident. "It allows all different agencies, police, fire, and EMS that can't talk to each other on their normal radio systems the ability to link those systems together."

Chief Whittington knows that quicker communication is better, it can make the difference between life and death.

He says, "I'm always for something positive. Improvement is always a bonus."

The Department of Homeland Security encourages all families to look into developing a family safety plan on their website www.ready.gov.