"No stop to the further development of Thuringia's control centers"

In the run-up to the state-wide steering committee on the control center structure reform, the East Thuringia control center network met again in Gera on Monday, April 8, 2024. Gera's Mayor Kurt Dannenberg (CDU), Jena's Head of Finance and Security Benjamin Koppe (CDU), Marko Wolfram (SPD), District Administrator of the Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district, Andreas Heller (CDU), District Administrator of the Saale-Holzland district, representatives from Greiz, Altenburger Land, the Saale-Orla district and the East Thuringia Rescue Service Association discussed how the new project idea from the Free State of Thuringia can be implemented in East Thuringia.
The background to this is the move away from a state-wide network system with centrally operated technology, which all six future regional control centers in Thuringia wanted to use together. In the partner model now proposed by the Free State, this centralization of control centre technology at two redundant locations will no longer exist. Only two control centers are to support and stand in for each other in the event of incidents and major emergencies. However, the cost-intensive IT and radio technology will still have to be maintained separately at each location in future. The steering committee for the project, to which the Ministry of the Interior invites and in which all district councils and mayors are represented, will meet this Wednesday, April 10, 2024, in Gotha to discuss the new status quo.
Jena's Head of Finance Benjamin Koppe summarizes the situation: "The regional authorities in Eastern Thuringia are united behind the state control centre project and we are fully convinced of the positive effects for our two regional control centres in Jena and Gera and for the safety of citizens. Although we are more critical of the current reorientation of the project in individual points and have a different opinion in some areas, we can also understand the actions of the Free State, as the control center reform is based on the voluntary merger of the districts and independent cities. It is now important to create security and clarity for all project participants. In future, the Free State must undertake to create a legal basis to organize the control centre structure for the whole of Thuringia. As in other federal states, a law on the establishment and operation of fail-safe and therefore redundant control centers is needed in addition to the Thuringian Rescue Services Act."
Despite a possible realignment of the state project, there will be no major changes for the citizens of East Thuringia, as the East Thuringia control center network has already reached its target structure for 2021 with the control centers in Gera and Jena. Nevertheless, the standardization and networking as well as the expansion of both control centers is urgently needed so that the two control centers will still meet the safety requirements in 5 or 10 years and have modern, up-to-date technology. The IT technology in particular is getting on in years and needs to be replaced in the medium term. Both control center locations are therefore pushing for the project to be continued without interruption. This requires money, as the costs of networking both locations are not insignificant. The state must therefore provide financial support.
Gera's Mayor and Head of Finance Kurt Dannenberg adds: "A new funding guideline from the Free State is needed immediately. This is the only way to support in particular those who have made progress with their commitment to the state project to date and who have also planned in reliance on financial support from the Free State. This also requires generous transitional arrangements and binding commitments from the Thuringian Ministry of the Interior in the short term."
The East Thuringia control center network has become firmly established in recent years and has provided intensive support for the state's control center structure project. The two regional control centers currently coordinate the ground-based rescue service as well as fire and assistance operations for around 700,000 citizens in the five districts of Eastern Thuringia and the cities of Jena and Gera. The inter-municipal cooperation with its regular working meetings is therefore a key component of the East Thuringian security architecture.

Arbeitstreffen des Leitstellenverbundes Ostthüringen