St. Johns County, FL - Improving radio communication system

[microwave]

St. Johns County improving radio communication system | News - Home

[james32746]

Looks like LE will be AES encrypted on this system as well as evidenced by the shot of the mobile radio at 45 seconds in the video.

[rapidcharger]

St. Johns County Florida, the entire population is 195,823 (2011)
At a price of $24,500,000 (plus maintenance) this radio system will come at the highest price per capita of any radio system that I have ever seen. Who would have thought there'd come a day were Miami was actually one of the least corrupt places in the state?

@ JAmes, you can bet it will be encrypted. In order to be interoperable with JSO (Jacksonville Sherrif's Office) which is encrypted, they will have to be too. What an egregious waste.

[redneckcellphone]

funny how she says they were federally mandated to have their system up to date by 2013 yet she doesnt mention that they didnt need to spend millions to do so. hmmm...it also says all emergency agencies must update. guess they didnt get the memo about only vhf and uhf

[szron]

Originally Posted by rapidcharger

@ JAmes, you can bet it will be encrypted. In order to be interoperable with JSO (Jacksonville Sherrif's Office) which is encrypted, they will have to be too. What an egregious waste.

I wouldn't say that for 100%.

Mixed open/encrypted communiactions are possible.

[902]

Originally Posted by redneckcellphone

funny how she says they were federally mandated to have their system up to date by 2013 yet she doesnt mention that they didnt need to spend millions to do so. hmmm...it also says all emergency agencies must update. guess they didnt get the memo about only vhf and uhf

They have an approved waiver, so they are not even under pressure to have complied by the January deadline. For that matter, they could have gone through their existing VHF conventional system and narrowbanded all of the equipment. For a fraction of what was spent on shiny new stuff, they could have mapped out their deficient coverage and added receivers. They could have even gone P25 digital without substantially increasing site count, but they didn't. They retained a consultant that pulled this tactic in another part of the country. The fact is that they get paid based on the amount spent. Making what you have work is nowhere as sexy as creating millions of dollars of sales and assuring there is recurring work. That's the name of the game.

As far as encryption goes, that's entirely up to them what they do. They most likely could have done that already. They still have compatibility issues with Clay (an EFJ Multinet 2 system), Putnam (VHF), Flagler (EDACS), and SLERS (EDACS), so I can't buy the "interoperability" aspect except for 8CALL and 8TAC conventional frequencies.

[radioman316]

Originally Posted by james32746

Looks like LE will be AES encrypted on this system as well as evidenced by the shot of the mobile radio at 45 seconds in the video.

The radios are the same ones Orlando uses so YES they will be 100% encrypted witth no clear comms

[rapidcharger]

In 2011, each of the 4 districts of the SJSO Assuming, the SJSO answered 134,765 calls for service. That may sound high for a place with only 195,000 residents but remember this is where most of Jerry Springer's guests come from.

Assuming, they could get their new system to last as long as their last system, 20 years according to the article, and forgetting for a second all the ongoing maintenance costs, and also assuming that they answer the same amount of calls in that same period (~2.7 million),

The new radio system will come at a cost of
$9.27
per call for service!
More than the gas!

What a bargain!

[rapidcharger]

Here's another fun fact!

Assuming the new radio system had zero maintenance and upkeep costs and also assuming that it lasted another 20 years, just like they claimed their last outdated system lasted....

If instead of paying for it all at once,
If the radio system was paid an hourly wage,
it would earn
$142. per hour
(based on a 24/7/365 shift)

More than the cops make!

Money well spent! Congratulations to St. Johns County!

[wten77]

We can all thank Lindsey and RR for the encryption issue. I have been at several LE joint task force meetings and yes he and his site alone are constantly brought up in regard to the live feeds and is the number 1 reason agencies are choosing encryption. Motorola also is aware of this and has taken advantage of this problematic issue by offering free encryption with radios and using RR as a prime example why encryption is needed. The offering of free encryption is a huge reason agencies are employing it. It's secure and it doesn't add to the cost of the system whatsoever. Motorola has capititalized on this and made huge sales. Public safety communications are secure leaving criminals in the dark and officers are no longer in danger due to Lindseys feeds. It's a win/win situation for both entitites. This was coming sooner or later, and the introduction of RR feeds and phone apps made this a dangerous issue and a great time to promote change.

[wten77]

And the money is well spent. It beats paying death benefits to a officers poor family for life, or paying officers overtime when a extensive manhunt is underway becasue a suspect got away while he was listening to the scanner on his I phone. St John's is joining Nassau, JAX, and everybody else in portecting themselves from Liability due to Lindsey Blanton. I understand everyone is mad because they can't enjoy there hobby anymore and listen to your little scanners but one person is responsible for this.

[rapidcharger]

Originally Posted by wten77

We can all thank Lindsey and RR for the encryption issue. I have been at several LE joint task force meetings and yes he and his site alone are constantly brought up in regard to the live feeds and is the number 1 reason agencies are choosing encryption. Motorola also is aware of this and has taken advantage of this problematic issue by offering free encryption with radios and using RR as a prime example why encryption is needed. The offering of free encryption is a huge reason agencies are employing it. It's secure and it doesn't add to the cost of the system whatsoever. Motorola has capititalized on this and made huge sales. Public safety communications are secure leaving criminals in the dark and officers are no longer in danger due to Lindseys feeds. It's a win/win situation for both entitites. This was coming sooner or later, and the introduction of RR feeds and phone apps made this a dangerous issue and a great time to promote change.

Originally Posted by wten77

And the money is well spent. It beats paying death benefits to a officers poor family for life, or paying officers overtime when a extensive manhunt is underway becasue a suspect got away while he was listening to the scanner on his I phone. St John's is joining Nassau, JAX, and everybody else in portecting themselves from Liability due to Lindsey Blanton. I understand everyone is mad because they can't enjoy there hobby anymore and listen to your little scanners but one person is responsible for this.

That must be why you're a premium subscriber then.

[dic]

Originally Posted by wten77

And the money is well spent. It beats paying death benefits to a officers poor family for life, or paying officers overtime when a extensive manhunt is underway becasue a suspect got away while he was listening to the scanner on his I phone. St John's is joining Nassau, JAX, and everybody else in portecting themselves from Liability due to Lindsey Blanton. I understand everyone is mad because they can't enjoy there hobby anymore and listen to your little scanners but one person is responsible for this.

Hey Wten77

Was LINDSEY BLANTON broadcasting live feeds in 2001 when the State of Florida implemented SLERS?

Since you've made a grand total of 5 posts, you may not know that this website was around back then and the answer is NO, he was not broadcasting live feeds.

The reason systems are being encrypted is that certain agencies do not want people listening to them because they have something to hide or have such turf battles with other agencies (no names----Florida Highway Patrol) that they don't want anyone hearing what they are (or are not) doing.

Dic

[microwave]

The local news and citizens were lied to multiple times by the Jacksonville Sheriff Office. First they gave radios to the media so they could report on calls. What happened was that the JSO's poor response time lead the news to show up on the scene before the responding officers on more than one occasion. This upset the JSO and instead of being honest they said that the radios are costing too much and must take them away from the media outlets. Every media outlet has offered to buy or rent the radios. The next response was JSO quoting an obscure state law that the never actually referenced. Something about them not being able to give personal information over the radio. The details of every call are done trough the computers in the call, not over the radio.

So now, the local media knows what JSO wants them to know and when they need to know it. At this point, there is nothing to keep JSO from completely fabricating what happened during any crime.

It's no surprise to me that this story was so inaccurate. The media here just regurgitates whatever they are fed and does no actual journalistic investigations.

Originally Posted by dic

Hey Wten77

Was LINDSEY BLANTON broadcasting live feeds in 2001 when the State of Florida implemented SLERS?

Since you've made a grand total of 5 posts, you may not know that this website was around back then and the answer is NO, he was not broadcasting live feeds.

The reason systems are being encrypted is that certain agencies do not want people listening to them because they have something to hide or have such turf battles with other agencies (no names----Florida Highway Patrol) that they don't want anyone hearing what they are (or are not) doing.

Dic

[microwave]

Please show me just one civil lawsuit that was filed because an agency didn't use encryption.

Originally Posted by wten77

And the money is well spent. It beats paying death benefits to a officers poor family for life, or paying officers overtime when a extensive manhunt is underway becasue a suspect got away while he was listening to the scanner on his I phone. St John's is joining Nassau, JAX, and everybody else in portecting themselves from Liability due to Lindsey Blanton. I understand everyone is mad because they can't enjoy there hobby anymore and listen to your little scanners but one person is responsible for this.

[microwave]

They got taken and will never admit it.

When are these counties going to lean that a Motorola sales rep is not a radio system consultant.

At least they might be able to rent out some space on their new towers.

Originally Posted by rapidcharger

Here's another fun fact!

Assuming the new radio system had zero maintenance and upkeep costs and also assuming that it lasted another 20 years, just like they claimed their last outdated system lasted....

If instead of paying for it all at once,
If the radio system was paid an hourly wage,
it would earn
$142. per hour
(based on a 24/7/365 shift)

More than the cops make!

Money well spent! Congratulations to St. Johns County!