[FedCom] Sky Marshalls Communications & Procedures

[Ken]

Wondering when the so called DHS "Sky Marshals" are in the air and/or on the 
ground if they have a means of communicating via radio/cellphone (maybe 
Nextel nationwide/international Walkie Talkie?? and perhaps some sort of 
interface with radio systems locally??)  with their dispatch center, etc in 
an emergency?

It's too bad that mentally ill guy ended up being shot dead in Miami, FL --  
almost looked like a "suicide by cop" type incident (which apparently DHS 
doesn't train their folks about) by a mentally distraught person in that he 
was pressing all their (law enforcement) buttons, e.g. saying he had a bomb, 
refusing orders to stop while his wife was trying to tell law enforcement he 
was mentally ill -- VERY difficult decision to make for the marshal...  BUT 
just have to wonder why the LE agent would not have trusted that the ground 
screening had been correct & the guy didn't have a bomb!!!  .. The plane 
wasn't in the air & the guy RAN off the plane, so it seems in typical arm 
chair quarterback/retrospect that the threat actually was less off the plane 
(e.g. wider area for explosion (but easier for people to escape) vs aircraft 
with smaller area where people could have been trapped in there)l    Frankly 
I think that it was a black day for both the DHS Sky Marshals as well as the 
guys family!

Ken
"Self Grounded"  in Springfield MA area