Background

The Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS) is a program created by a governmental disaster or emergency management office to supplement its emergency communications with unpaid staff. Skilled and dedicated people, licensed and unlicensed, can serve in one or more of four categories: administrative, management, technical, and operations. The ACS program can support a city, a county or a state. It may have the ACS name or another of local choice.

The ACS provides tactical, logistical and administrative support and communications for all government communications systems. It includes operations on equipment and frequencies of ANY authorized equipment or frequencies in support of ANY need by government that might be in any way connected with an eventual emergency. It includes: cellular, computer, email, facsimile, Internet, microwave, radio (police, fire, amateur, other), satellite, telephone, television, video conference, in-office support of personnel, operators of equipment and systems.

ACS makes possible the effective management and utilization of personnel from Amateur Radio, Civil Air Patrol, the Military Affiliate Radio System, Special Emergency Radio Service, REACT and others, in support of civil defense and disaster response and recovery.

The ACS evolved out of a 1970 concept of the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Services (RACES) program that it was limited to Amateur radio licensees, which was incorrect – only that operations on Amateur radio frequencies required an FCC license. Also, often officials had mental images of the RACES that limited it from reaching its potential or caused its demise. The ACS began with requests to the unit at the Governor's Office of Emergency Services for help with the programming of computers, then with telephone and satellite systems, which lead to field support of OES deployable communications assets. This was reflected with the shift from the RACES bulletins to the EMCOMM Bulletin in l996. Some RACES units retained that name providing the spectrum of services here described for the ACS.

These resources can be utilized in an agency on a day-to-day basis for familiarization for potential emergency response. This includes use of government frequencies for day-to-day government activities in any way related to emergency communications. Participants in these units are expected to be more than just operators of radios in a "call me if you need me" situation or an "it may never happen here" scenario. They are skilled professionals who work as unpaid staff with the local emergency management agency to enhance its response and recovery in any possible emergency. This includes preparation of plans, systems and personnel for response to any kind of situation or incident. These resources are normally mobilized at the same time as are other public safety resources responding and reacting to an incident; and not later, when it may be too late to effectively and efficiently, or even possible, to do so.
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Updated:  081804 CM