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@ peterdohherty Your ideal, has some good merits, other people has brought up the some concerns, do you really want PSAP to monitor full time the GMRS channel, when people may be talking about what they need at the store, or to pick up little Johnny or Susie at school. Most likely not. A lot of it depends on what your objective is. I would suggest maybe look in to what I have been doing, in my case, my goal is showing the value it would bring in tracking severe thunderstorms, or tornados thru the county or area. I have spoken with 3 EMA county directors, they open to the idea and have expressed interested in setting up some kind of emergency radio network for non-hams, non- Public Safety people in the county ( AKA GMRS/FRS, and or CB people) to direct report things (such as Storm track information). A couple of them have considered and spoken about the value of additional resources it could bring, one of them is even considering assist in setting a GMRS repeater, and putting person in to the county EOC during severe storms or tornado. I really think you would find the EMA directors much more receptive to the ideal of setting up some kind communication link to the GMRS Service, then going thru the local / county LEO official's. I hope that helps.

I like the idea, but the problem is with the bootleggers that snag onto a repeater, the unlicensed users that don't know radio protocol or a host of other reasons. Do we want a 911 dispatcher monitoring the rag chewer? Having a mutual aid type channel would be a great idea. I know from experience though it's a pretty tough sell. We have a UHF repeater that 30-40 miles at almost full quiet for the sheriff department, I personally have tested it in our county for a couple months, along with the deputies for coverage. It is a near "perfect" system (I am placing my Part 90 Repeater at the same height and power) and yet we can't get the county to sign off on it and make it official for a mutual aid system. All the departments in the county are on UHF, all have discussed a need to reachout to county and other agencies, ISPERN doesn't allow certain comms that the MA channel would provide. If someone does initiate such a program, I would be VERY interested in how they got it approved.

I think this is a really important topic. I'm not sure how to address this with either local Law Enforcement, or 911 Dispatch centers. I'm thinking it would be a good topic to bring up with state and county emergency coordinators.