Brown County 911 dispatch center meetings

[mindphasr]

Here is an article from WBAY tv that some may be interested in:

http://wbay.com/Global/story.asp?S=4914145

 

[RevGary]

Placing a 9-1-1 system in tthe control of ANY politically elected person (Sheriff OR County Executive) is dangerous and will result in a single minded approach to bettering (or worsening) the system. A PRIVATE corporation, funded by the communities it serves through tax dollars is the best way to operate a 9-1-1 countywide dispatch center. There is usually a liaison committee formed from members of the various city and county boards to which the 9-1-1 Center is held accountable. The current dispatch system in Brown County is ineffective in many respects and due to the stresses of the job, the turnover in personnel is substantial. This leaves the center operations to newbies who constantly make mistakes - and mistakes cost lives.

In the opinion of many locally, the center, as it is currently being operated, is sadly lacking in leadership, supervision, set rules - stringent protocols and administration. Placing it under the Sheriff's jurusdiction, as it once was, will be a 20 year step backwards.

There are many national corporations that can come into a situation like this and take over the responsibilities with quality long term employees and set regulations of operation. Perhaps it is time to let one of those companies take over the operatioons in Brown County before anyone else is injured or is killed because of mistakes under the current system.

ONE Countywide VHF repeater for interagency operations would end the so called "can't talk to anyone else" situation. Some are using this excuse to lobby for a $22 million dollar 800 mhz radio system in the county - this would be a mistake of monumental proportions due to the layout of the area and the elevation changes where 800 systems are notorious for large dead spots. The $22 million could easilly DOUBLE in 5 years due to having to add equipment constantly to provide coverage... and the manufacturers can see all those dollar signs, you can be assured. Portables would be next to useless in the rural areas or inside buildings as the GBPD has already found out.

Stay with VHF - and allow a primary source corporation to come in to do it right at the 9-1-1 centrer.

 

[kb9mwr]

Placing a 9-1-1 system in tthe control of ANY politically elected person (Sheriff OR County Executive) is dangerous and will result in a single minded approach to bettering (or worsening) the system. <snip>

ONE Countywide VHF repeater for interagency operations would end the so called "can't talk to anyone else" situation. Some are using this excuse to lobby for a $22 million dollar 800 mhz radio system in the county - this would be a mistake of monumental proportions due to the layout of the area and the elevation changes where 800 systems are notorious for large dead spots. The $22 million could easilly DOUBLE in 5 years due to having to add equipment constantly to provide coverage... and the manufacturers can see all those dollar signs, you can be assured. Portables would be next to useless in the rural areas or inside buildings as the GBPD has already found out.

Stay with VHF - and allow a primary source corporation to come in to do it right at the 9-1-1 centrer.

I agree, they need some technical people involved to offer ideas outside of those they contract, which I believe is BayCom.

They have a couple country wide VHF repeaters, the problem has always been talking to the 800 MHz, Ashwaubenon and Green Bay units... as some of those cars don't have both a VHF and 800 MHz radio.

It's not that hard to patch in a VHF radio to a 800 MHz trunked system. Even a down and dirty offsite bi-directional Maxtrac repeater cable type of thing would be better than what they have now, which is nothing.

My last suggestion would be to provide some training to the officers. I'm sick of having to play with the scanners volume control. Repeat after me; hold the mic 2-3 inches from your the side of your face, and begin speaking in a normal tone of voice 1 second after your begin pressing the PTT. (Maybe BayCom has the mic gain's on some of the officers radios higher than others?)

 

[RevGary]

The programming of the Motorola units is suposed to be exactly the same as it comes out of the software, but I learned a long time ago that Motorola units, especially portables, have a variance between units (quality control?) and no matter what the programmer does, it seems that the radios have a mind of their own.

As I understand it from chatting with a number of GBPD officers over the years, they DO have a VHF radio in each cruiser, but they are under orders to keep it turned off unless AUTHORIZED to do so under special circumstances, by the shift commander. I guess having more than one radio on at once might be a distraction - and because the 800 equipment "works SO well", that they need FULL ATTENTION on the 800 equipment to TRY to hear what's going on. State Patrol units in this general area have three radios going at once and they don't seem to have issues. GBPD still has a repeater on 155.130 and it was a good system. Portables worked all over the place properly and if they got into a chase which went into the county, they would still have reliable comm 30 miles away. With the 800 system, they get 5 miles away from the last tower in their jurisdiction, at that's all, folks...no comm.

They DO have the capability at this time to use the MARC repeater for interagency coordination and operations... but it is only used during "important dignitary visits" to the area for convoys and usually isn't used at all for anything else. The letters stand for Mutual Aid Radio Channel - and it just sits there unused most of the time. The operating protocols are such that it could be utilized for any regional multi agency purpose, but evidently, it is conveniently forgotten about.