Livingston Parish gets new radio's

Status
Not open for further replies.

charlie12

Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2002
Messages
257
Location
Pride, LA
Emergency agencies get radios in Livingston

By BOB ANDERSON
Advocate Florida parishes bureau
Published: Nov 10, 2009 - Page: 4A

LIVINGSTON — Livingston Parish has distributed 234 hand-held radios to various emergency agencies to make sure they can talk to each other during hurricanes and other disasters, officials said Monday.

The radios should prevent the kinds of communications problems that occurred in some parts of the state after Hurricane Katrina, said Mark Benton, executive director of the parish’s Office of Emergency Preparedness.

Radios have been programmed and given to all of the law enforcement agencies, fire departments and other agencies that need to respond to emergencies, he said.

In addition to numerous parish agencies being able to talk to each other, the radios make it possible for local agencies to communicate with agencies from other parishes and emergency responders from other states, Benton said.

Another big advantage is that the radios aren’t dependent on local towers, Denham Springs Police Chief Scott Jones said.

A tower can go out “and we still can talk to each other,” he said.

The radios work on a chain of towers, so a lot of towers would have to go out for them to become inoperable, said Ronnie Cotton, who heads the parish’s 911 center.

“It will give us another coin in our pocket when we try to start fighting one of these hurricanes.” Cotton said.

The parish has 64 additional radios that will be distributed within the “next couple of weeks as soon as they are programmed,” Benton said.

The programming is different for different agencies, he said.

Some channels are common to all of the emergency agencies and some are specific to law enforcement agencies, Benton said.

The parish purchased the radios at a cost of $704,000 with funding from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the OEP director said.

Benton said he hopes additional grant money will be made available for the purchase of more radios.

Realization of the need for such radios came after Katrina, Benton said. Responders from different parts of the state and nation who came to help couldn’t communicate with each other or with local agencies, he said.








Find this article at:
2theadvocate.com | News | Emergency agencies get radios in Livingston — Baton Rouge, LA
 

charlie12

Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2002
Messages
257
Location
Pride, LA
I wnnder if LPSO and DSPD will be using them for dispatch, Charlie?

As of now they are still using the 460 stuff. Don't know when or if they will switch over. I talked to a LPSO deputy the other night and he said only a few people were getting the 700 radio. Don't think he knows what he was talking about.

This is from the Livingston Parish News. from Sunday.



$704,000 grant boosts parish communications

By Alice Dowty

LIVINGSTON - Poor communications have ruined emergency response plans in the past, but the future is more secure, according to Mark Benton, executive director of the local Office of Emergency Preparedness.

"Emergency responders to the 9/11 terrorist attacks lacked the communications they needed, and the same kind of breakdown happened after Katrina," Benton said. "But now we have the communications equipment we need."

A $704,000 federal grant allowed the parish to buy and program 300 radios that will not only create a more reliable communications network within the parish, but will also link Livingston Parish with state and federal agencies, Benton said.

The programming gives agencies the capability of selecting channels that widen or narrow the field of receivers.

When analog television broadcasters cleared the 700 MHz airwaves, the Federal Communications Commission reserved a portion of the spectrum for a public safety band.

This set the stage for the creation of a nationwide, interoperable broadband communications network for the benefit of local, state, and federal public safety agencies, according to the FCC.

After Katrina, first responders were hampered by incompatible communication devices that operated on different frequencies. A first responder from one agency might have been a few blocks away from another team and not know it.

The new interoperable radios allow universal access among all emergency workers, Benton said.

"Now we can communicate, collaborate, and coordinate our response," Benton said.

Federal grants through the Department of Homeland Security allow local agencies nationwide to buy the equipment, giving them the capability of contacting their counterparts thousands of miles away, Benton said.

Redundancy makes the 700 MHz trunked digital system more reliable. This signal travels farther, so the system is less dependent on a particular set of towers, according to the FCC.

If a storm hits locally, taking down towers, the communications system can be maintained by towers in neighboring areas, Benton said.

All Livingston Parish fire departments, police departments, the Sheriff's Office, the Ward 2 Marshal's Office, the Coroner, the Parish President and mayors have received the new communications equipment, Benton said.

"This system is not just for disasters," Benton said. "Some channels are reserved for law enforcement, for example, and that helps with response to the kind of thing they deal with on a daily basis."

The system will also help fire departments call for mutual assistance.

"And in the case of a real disaster, we'll be much better prepared. The National Guard, for example, will be able to find out the trouble spots and locate resources," Benton said.
 

RADIOJAGUAR

Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2006
Messages
12
Livinston parish

Since last week I have been hearing activity in Baton Rouge on the Livingston tower. Walker PD Dispatch on 20033. Also heard unidentified traffic on 20005 and 20054.
 

charlie12

Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2002
Messages
257
Location
Pride, LA
Since last week I have been hearing activity in Baton Rouge on the Livingston tower. Walker PD Dispatch on 20033. Also heard unidentified traffic on 20005 and 20054.

So is that Walker PD dispatch or LPSO disatching them? Walker PD dispatches their units during the day and LPSO does the dispatching for Walker PD at night.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top