Effective communications are paramount for facilitating emergency response and recovery in the wake of a catastrophic event. To be prepared for such an event, the communications community must gather together periodically to practice its tradecraft in a multi-agency and multi-discipline environment.

      To this end, the Jackson Madison County Emergency Management Agency, Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA), the Tennessee Advanced Communications Network (TACN), and the Tennessee National Guard are sponsoring the Tennessee Public Safety Interoperability Exercise 2020 in West Tennessee in 2020.

      The purpose of this exercise is to:

1. Strengthen relationships between local/state/federal government agencies, non-governmental agencies, and auxiliary communications groups that are involved in emergency communications.
2. Give participants an opportunity to demonstrate proficiency with position task book items.
3. Facilitate communications related training and breakouts.
4. Demonstrate agency communications platform capabilities and increase awareness of communications assets available through mutual aid.
5. Share assessments of emerging technologies aimed at improving accuracy and timeliness of emergency communications.