Douglas County considering SPLOST for new radio system

The Douglas County Board of Commissioners is considering calling for a referendum in the Nov. 8 General Election for a one-cent Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax for capital improvements and construction projects.

According to Greg Whitaker, director of Douglas County’s E-911 system, the 800-megahertz radio system comes with a high price tag, estimated at between $13 and $16 million.

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http://www.times-georgian.com/regio...cle_0ff70796-f501-5915-a8fa-7012030443ae.html

They should join the WARRS system. The coverage is already there and don't have to start from nothing. Also lets them talk to Villa Rica PD and Carroll County SO.

Noted from the last county commision meeting:

In other action at last week’s meeting, commissioners voted to seek proposals for a professional consultant to design a new 800-megahertz public safety radio system for Douglas County.

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I never stopped being amazed at the inability of local and county governments to join EXISTING radio systems that could meet their needs while opting instead for complete control of their very own system. Like so many other things in life, IT'S ABOUT CONTROL!!!!!

Metrofire31
WQIT636

So what happens to all that nice 'trbo equipment when agencies go from trbo to P25

RRR said:

So what happens to all that nice 'trbo equipment when agencies go from trbo to P25

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Let us know, so we can get in on the bidding early.

Has anyone tried monitoring DC fire and sheriff with any of the new DMR capable scanners? Last I had heard they were both encrypted but was wondering if that had changed?

You can monitor DCFD dispatch on analog at 155.52 PL192.8. Just like it shows in this websites database. Sometimes you can understand it as it is simulcast from DMR. You will not be able to monitor TAC channels on analog.

DCFD or DCSO are NOT encrypted, as accurately recorded on this websites database. You can monitor both with DMR capable scanners or DSD.

(a simple look at the database answered your questions)

Keeping this on topic of the thread. I can't find the exact verbiage now, but when they were advertising for the SPLOST they said the purpose of the money is for a new communications system that will allow them to communicate with neighboring jurisdictions. Since when is that important? (Sarcasm)

With them recently changing to DMR, I don't see this happening within the next 5 years.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out with a new Sheriff and a new County Chairman.

So where on the database for Douglas county do you see a notation of the system as being "NOT encrypted"? ("as accurately recorded in this sites database")

RRR said:

So where on the database for Douglas county do you see a notation of the system as being "NOT encrypted"? ("as accurately recorded in this sites database")

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I'm not sure why he really felt the need for the semi smart reply either. It does look like the database was updated on the 22 or 23 of Dec to add talkgroups that were not there before and to change the mode from E to T. I have no way of monitoring DMR so I was just hoping for a little help from someone that had actually heard DCSO and DCFD on a DMR capable scanner instead of just relying on a new update in the database. I've had one of the new FD portables in my hand a few months ago and there was a lock indication on the screen.

Douglas commissioners hear sales tax-funded projects in early stages | West Georgia Neighbor | mdjonline.com

Boullain said Louisiana-based public safety communications consulting company Tusa is working to oversee design, engineering and inspection of a $16.5 million digital radio system for the sheriff’s and fire departments. The system will replace the current analog system which some have complained cannot pick up a signal in all parts of the county.

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Does anyone know the TG# that dcso talks on

I have seen some of the fine work that Tusa Consulting has done on other projects. If the vendor does their work the way they should, they have no problems working with the Tusa field Consultants. If they try to cut corners and not proceed with the work as spelled out, they just released the tiger and will be put on the carpet for sloppy work, poor work and a radio system that didn't meet the requirements as spelled out.

If your interested interested in a project that started to go astray, do a search for the Mobile County, AL. radio system and read all about what went on there. The consultant got the vendor to pull out all sorts of extras that were not asked for in the system. They ended up a number of million dollars less in their pocket due to the efforts of Tusa Consulting.

Bringing in a good consulting company can be a major plus for the agency. Bringing in a poor consulting company can actually hurt the agency and they end up with something they thought they were getting for a new radio system, but ended up with a poorly performing radio system at a higher cost.

Well here is a new update on this.

http://douglascountyga.civicclerk.com/Web/GenFile.aspx?ar=5285

Douglas County RFP

Seems like this has been coming for a long time. Not sure why WARRS wasn't a viable option but then I'm not a politician. Interesting, though, that the date the RFP was distributed was actually October of next year.

Metrofire31
Franklin, NC
WQIT636

Metrofire31 said:

Seems like this has been coming for a long time. Not sure why WARRS wasn't a viable option but then I'm not a politician. Interesting, though, that the date the RFP was distributed was actually October of next year.

Metrofire31
Franklin, NC
WQIT636

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Unless I am reading this wrong, we need to be careful about making assumptions. They could very well latch onto an existing system.

WARRS is a great system, but it doesn't benefit them to be on it. Crime comes from, and goes back to Atlanta, not West Georgia. Being on the WARRS system doesn't get them talking to Cobb and Fulton Counties.

What does make sense is that they join the Cobb system, which Douglasville Police are on. The coverage has been in the county for years and has proven to work. Wouldn't it be great if the police and the Sheriff's department within the same county could actually communicate with each other. Oh the possibilities....

As I mentioned above, this is likely to be several years in the making. Their current radio system is barely 2 years old and seems to be working, but hey, they have money burning holes in their pocket, so spend it!
This is coming from the same people who spent 3/4 million dollars on a sign for the jail. According to a county official, the county chairperson spent $700 on a catered meal for 4 people and spent over $12,000 to upgrade her office. According to the Douglas County Sentinel, the county coroner went over budget by 59%. It's just money folks... that's all.. just money.

Douglas County RFP

Good comments from people on here. One additional thing I would add - I'm not sure of the degree that jurisdictions take interoperability into account when bidding a system (since I've not done that myself). And I readily admit I'm no authority on any aspect of this. What I can offer is my perspective based on 40+ years of regularly monitoring public safety radio traffic. In all that time, it is a fact that the number of times I HAVE PERSONALLY HEARD a unit from one jurisdiction speak directly to a unit of another jurisdiction is very low. I don't know if that proves that interoperability is overrated or simply not used because of local customs or usage policies. More often than not, field units REQUEST THEIR DISPATCHER to contact another agency. I must confess that the interop traffic I've monitored typically involves air medical units contacting ground units, or vice versa.

Those of us who focus on monitoring public safety communications often tend to have a different emphasis than those who use it for a living. I include myself in this category but we tend to focus on the LOGICAL use of communications ("why don't they instead....."). We have a wonderful perspective although void of inside information as to why they sometimes do what they do. Overall, the truth is they (public safety folks) have an enormously tough job and their radio is a TOOL, not something they analyze and typically dwell on. They often don't even understand it to the extent we do (not including the comm management folks). I am personally very grateful for their underpaid, personal sacrifice. It's simply my privilege to be able to monitor what they have to put up with.

Metrofire31
Franklin, NC (formerly Atlanta)
WQIT636 (GMRS)

Metrofire31 said:

In all that time, it is a fact that the number of times I HAVE PERSONALLY HEARD a unit from one jurisdiction speak directly to a unit of another jurisdiction is very low

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This has more to do with political and operational aspects than technology. Back in the 1980s into the early 1990s most metro Atlanta (including CoA) utilized UHF conventional and rarely would one agency have programmed (or crystalized!) a radio for another except say, command staff.

Operationally, (more with law than fire discipline), working groups are closed and follow a command structure. Not defending the lack of daily cross-agency comms, but it can become chaotic if everyone just starts self-initiating and going "all over the dial" during an incident.

The key is a unified command. This doesn't exist in this area because agencies are separately run and don't have unified dispatch and command and control in most cases.

Where I work we have made great strides to change this. We have four cities that share a single talk group and dispatcher for dispatching of service calls. This means when an offense occurs in one jurisdiction, all agencies have situational awareness. They can also coordinate response.

As we are implementing a new CAD with switch to switch, this awareness will increase as we will have BOLO's and active calls for other jurisdictions who currently do not operate on our radio system.

These types of operational (and in many cases) political barriers, not so much technology, that take time and the right key people at the table to work out a "unity of command".

Metrofire31 said:

Those of us who focus on monitoring public safety communications often tend to have a different emphasis than those who use it for a living. I include myself in this category but we tend to focus on the LOGICAL use of communications ("why don't they instead.....").

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And I will admit that, before the time I have put in at my agency first implementing our P-25 system and now managing the implementation of a new CAD and RMS system, it is easy to get caught on the side lines and armchair quarterback.

I will say that once one gets "inside", one gains an entirely new perspective and starts to understand why things are the way they are, and why changes are so slow to come. But rest assured, time and technology are marching forward and these changes will come.

Douglas County RFP

MTS2000:

Eric:

You're absolutely right on target. BTW, could you share the specifics of the shared talkgroup you referenced, i.e., which four cities share it and a unified dispatcher? It would be encouraging to see an example of how governments are making strides in merging technology and policy implementation.

Metrofire31
Franklin, NC (formerly Cobb Co)
WQIT636

Metrofire31 said:

MTS2000:

Eric:

You're absolutely right on target. BTW, could you share the specifics of the shared talkgroup you referenced, i.e., which four cities share it and a unified dispatcher? It would be encouraging to see an example of how governments are making strides in merging technology and policy implementation.

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I am referring to Union City, Fairburn, Palmetto and Chattahoochee Hills. All of them are subscribers on our trunked radio system, and share a single dispatch talk group (they do have other agency specific TACs) and all have access to common countywide talk groups for mutual aid and interoperability.

Their fire departments are also dispatched by us, on a single common dispatch talk group, with common fire TACs. All have our hosted MachAlert IP based fire station altering system, and soon will be on our MCT network once we get it in operation.

The key here is that we are their PSAP for both E-911 calls (fire and law) and radio dispatch- all share a cost in the services and all benefit because they pay less than doing it on their own.

Great things happen when folks work together.