HISD police radios get failing grade, officials seeking money for improvement

[leawoodcops]

HISD police radios get failing grade, officials seeking money for improvement
(4/03/07 - KTRK/HOUSTON) - HISD is looking into a problem we first told you about a month ago.

Some schools have areas where HISD police officers aren't able to talk to each other on department issued radios and now the superintendent wants to do something about it.

Next week, Dr. Abe Saavedra will ask the school board for $800,000 to upgrade the officers' communication system. Right now, the district's radio system does not let officers talk to other officers and deputies from the Houston Police Department and the Harris County Sheriff's Office.

"This is the best of all worlds for us," said Chief Charles Wiley of the HISD Police Department. "It allows for us to have better communication among our different units, portable as well as mobile and it also allows us to have this interoperability with other agencies in the region."

The school board will talk about the proposal next Monday.
(Copyright © 2007, KTRK-TV)

[bpckty1]

"The school board will talk about the proposal next Monday."

So, what's new about this? Sounds like a repeat of the busses need radios crisis a few years ago. HISD has complained about their poor coverage for years, and recently has set up simulcast systems around the district. Having a UHF link for the school officers (ch 3 on the EDACS) was a good idea so the officers would only need 1 radio (their school and PD) instead of 2. In the words of a local furniture salesman, "Save You Money" (visualize a fist full of money and the salesman leaping into the air). ;^>

I can forsee the district making the switch to Borgnet, if certain $$$s are acquired from Uncle Sugar. As for MHCD and PHI, I don't see the switch happening for several years. By then, who knows, maybe Montgomery County and HISD will become "one with the universe".

[TXEMT]

A buddy of mine is a School District officer here and for a while they would use one radio and just scan the patrol channel and the campus channel but they switched back to carrry two radios since he said you would miss alot of traffic on either channel you could miss and emergency call from an officer down the street or miss an administrator calling for help on the other channel.

[bpckty1]

Practical, and I don't blame them.

Theory v Practical. Practical usually wins.

[leawoodcops]

New HISD Police Radios Will End Problem of Radio Blackouts in Schools
Board approves plan to spend $806,000 for New Radio System
April 06,2007



This article has been updated to reflect the HISD Board of Education's approval of this plan during its regular monthly meeting on April 12.

Some HISD schools have “radio blackout” areas where police officers can’t talk to each other in a crisis, and Superintendent of Schools Abelardo Saavedra said he wants that problem solved.

Dr. Saavedra asked the Board of Education for $806,000 for a new radio system for the HISD Police Department that will make sure that officers are in constant communication everywhere in every school during any kind of crisis, and the trustees approved the plan on April 12.

HISD has America’s most professional school-district police force. It is the only school-district police department in the country that is accredited as a law-enforcement agency.

Still, Dr. Saavedra and HISD Police Chief Charles Wiley said, the department’s radio system is outdated.

“If an emergency arises at a school,” Dr. Saavedra said, “we might have an HISD police officer respond and try to call for backup, but he might get no answer. That’s because no one received his radio signal because he’s in a dead spot. We can, and we must, solve that problem for the protection of our students, our teachers, and the police officers.”

HISD's radio system also does not allow HISD officers to talk directly to other first responders in Houston and Harris County who could be called upon to help in an emergency.

Dr. Saavedra asked the Board of Education to approve the purchase of 130 hand-held radios, 36 mobile radios, and a new dispatch console for $806,144. He also asked the school board for $15,221 a year to allow the HISD Police Department join the Harris County emergency radio network, which is used by 65 local, state, and federal agencies.

The Harris County regional radio system meets federal guidelines established after September 11, 2001, for radio interoperability (the ability of a system to function effectively with other systems). It will allow HISD Police officers on the scene of an emergency to coordinate directly with first responders from other agencies.

HISD Police Chief Wiley said, “Better and more efficient communications will improve the safety of our officers, the safety of officers responding from other agencies, and, most important, the safety of our students and employees on our school campuses. The outdated radio system was one of the first problems we identified this year, and we need to get it corrected quickly."

HISD is Texas’ largest school district, with 203,000 students in 300 schools.

[mfn002]

Two choices come to mind here:
a) They could go on the City of Houston TRS
or
b) They could go on STARNET

Since they are part of the City of Houston, I would feel it more likely that they would use the City TRS.

[mfn002]

Originally Posted by leawoodcops

Dr. Saavedra asked the Board of Education to approve the purchase of 130 hand-held radios, 36 mobile radios, and a new dispatch console for $806,144. He also asked the school board for $15,221 a year to allow the HISD Police Department join the Harris County emergency radio network, which is used by 65 local, state, and federal agencies.

Oh Grrreeaaatttt....I don't have any room left in my 396 for ANOTHER STARNET user

[leawoodcops]

Originally Posted by mfn002

Two choices come to mind here:
a) They could go on the City of Houston TRS
or
b) They could go on STARNET

Since they are part of the City of Houston, I would feel it more likely that they would use the City TRS.

HISD Police Department join the Harris County emergency radio network, which is used by 65 local, state, and federal agencies.

when they say Harris County emergency radio network, do they mean Starnet?

[mfn002]

Originally Posted by leawoodcops

HISD Police Department join the Harris County emergency radio network, which is used by 65 local, state, and federal agencies.

when they say Harris County emergency radio network, do they mean Starnet?

Well, there is only ONE "county emergency radio network" isn't there?