Butler County's project to establish a countywide standard for emergency response radios will take its most visible step this summer, said officials involved with the $25 million project. The county will erect the first of as many as 14 relay towers in preparation for the 800 MHz digital radio system's first test run in late 2008.
"They'll see the towers being built, but the general public won't see many of the things being done," said West Chester Twp. Public Safety Director James Detherage.
Detherage said the new radios will make for quicker cross-departmental communication in mutual-aid situations and provide clearer communication among first responders, who have to rely on phone contact through dispatch centers to transmit messages.
"That's what they're trying to remedy," said West Chester Twp. Police Chief John Bruce. "The whole idea is that some day all police departments will have the same system."
But radio experts say the change could have another impact, since the system can give users the ability to encrypt or "scramble" transmissions.
"All public service radios will be set up for encryption," said William Turner, director of the Butler County Emergency Management Agency.
Encryption happens when a dedicated channel set up only for specific radios is used. That means that regular radio scanners will not decode the communication. The current Butler County 800 MHz analog system does not have encryption abilities, according to police officials. When officers feel the need to send have private communication, they often switch to cell phones.
Turner said the encryption capability could be used to protect patients' privacy as EMS crews prepare hospitals for their arrival, or protect sensitive police communications. Hamilton County operates an 800 MHz digital radio system like the one Butler County is installing, and county communication center technical services manager Mike Bailey said system users have the option of adding encryption when they join the system. "Technically, it's possible to (encrypt all communications), but nobody's done it yet," he said.
Howard Hunt is a 22-year member of MONIX, an area organization that keeps scanner users updated on first responder radio frequencies in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. He said that across-the-board encryption projects in Jacksonville, Fla., and Anniston, Ala., have encountered resistance from local media and public access advocates.
"There's been some initial First Amendment discussion on that, because who's paying for the system?" Hunt said.
"They're not going to shut the news media out," Turner said. He did note, however, that an encryption use policy has yet to be put in place. "I don't know if we're looking at adopting one policy across the county," he said. "It could be that each department has its own protocol."
"To have communications encrypted all the time wouldn't be practical," said Fairfield Fire Chief Don Bennett. He said he would consider writing a usage policy for the department if it is needed.
"We don't know what options are available to us yet," Bruce said.
"We might go for encryption on a few channels." Like Turner, township communications director Denise Bruce said the department is aware of the encryption issue and will address it as the project progresses.
"Nothing is etched in stone, other than building the 800 MHz system," she said.
