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PUBLISHED: Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Feds give $2 million for police, fire radio network
System will allow free communication during emergencies.
By Chad Selweski
Macomb Daily Staff Writer
A 6-year effort to upgrade Macomb County's police and fire radio equipment is nearing completion thanks to a $2 million infusion of federal funds.
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The 2008 federal budget provides U.S. Department of Justice funding for the state-of-the-art radio system, which will allow all 61 police, fire and EMS agencies to communicate freely with each other in an emergency.
The system consists of nine communications towers and 3,000 two-way radios that are mounted in vehicles or are the hand-held variety, each costing about $2,500.
"Some departments are further ahead than others. Basically everybody is on board," said Vicki Wolber, acting director of the Macomb County Emergency and Communications Department. "We've had great progress in the past year and a half."
Wolber said the Clinton Township Police Department is the largest department that has not moved toward this 800-megahertz system but it will take the first steps with the help of the new federal money.
Wolber said the $2 million allocation means that the countywide system should "probably be 98 percent complete" by the end of the year.
Macomb's effort fits the priority established by the 9-11 Commission and many in Congress to install "interoperable" radios that improve emergency communications among first responders.
The new system ends an archaic approach in which agencies responding to an accident or a fire could not talk to each other. It also eliminates communication "dead spots" in some sections of the county and improves the ability of police and firefighters to talk via portable radios while inside buildings.
The new radio network will prove especially valuable, officials say, in the event of a natural disaster or terrorist attack. But the benefits will be realized on an everyday basis, Wolber said.
"It doesn't have to be a big, catastrophic event. If we have police and fire at a scene, they can talk to each other without having to go through their dispatch center," she said.
After county voters soundly rejected a telephone tax to pay for the upgrade in 2002, the county sold $13 million worth of bonds to help pay for the project. In addition, federal allocations have been secured, the latest coming due to a team effort by Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow and Reps. Sander Levin and Candice Miller.
The investment by the county and municipalities provided the four lawmakers a strong selling point in securing federal dollars.
The new funding includes $669,000 for Wolber's department, $987,000 for south Macomb cities, and $352,000 for north Macomb townships. The plans for 2008 call for getting all departments on the system and to add an 18th radio channel at a cost of $360,000.
"The ability for first responders to have seamless communications is essential to our safety and emergency response," said Levin, a Royal Oak Democrat who represents most of Macomb County. "A partnership between the local, county and federal governments is necessary to make this system fully operational."
PUBLISHED: Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Feds give $2 million for police, fire radio network
System will allow free communication during emergencies.
By Chad Selweski
Macomb Daily Staff Writer
A 6-year effort to upgrade Macomb County's police and fire radio equipment is nearing completion thanks to a $2 million infusion of federal funds.
Advertisement
The 2008 federal budget provides U.S. Department of Justice funding for the state-of-the-art radio system, which will allow all 61 police, fire and EMS agencies to communicate freely with each other in an emergency.
The system consists of nine communications towers and 3,000 two-way radios that are mounted in vehicles or are the hand-held variety, each costing about $2,500.
"Some departments are further ahead than others. Basically everybody is on board," said Vicki Wolber, acting director of the Macomb County Emergency and Communications Department. "We've had great progress in the past year and a half."
Wolber said the Clinton Township Police Department is the largest department that has not moved toward this 800-megahertz system but it will take the first steps with the help of the new federal money.
Wolber said the $2 million allocation means that the countywide system should "probably be 98 percent complete" by the end of the year.
Macomb's effort fits the priority established by the 9-11 Commission and many in Congress to install "interoperable" radios that improve emergency communications among first responders.
The new system ends an archaic approach in which agencies responding to an accident or a fire could not talk to each other. It also eliminates communication "dead spots" in some sections of the county and improves the ability of police and firefighters to talk via portable radios while inside buildings.
The new radio network will prove especially valuable, officials say, in the event of a natural disaster or terrorist attack. But the benefits will be realized on an everyday basis, Wolber said.
"It doesn't have to be a big, catastrophic event. If we have police and fire at a scene, they can talk to each other without having to go through their dispatch center," she said.
After county voters soundly rejected a telephone tax to pay for the upgrade in 2002, the county sold $13 million worth of bonds to help pay for the project. In addition, federal allocations have been secured, the latest coming due to a team effort by Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow and Reps. Sander Levin and Candice Miller.
The investment by the county and municipalities provided the four lawmakers a strong selling point in securing federal dollars.
The new funding includes $669,000 for Wolber's department, $987,000 for south Macomb cities, and $352,000 for north Macomb townships. The plans for 2008 call for getting all departments on the system and to add an 18th radio channel at a cost of $360,000.
"The ability for first responders to have seamless communications is essential to our safety and emergency response," said Levin, a Royal Oak Democrat who represents most of Macomb County. "A partnership between the local, county and federal governments is necessary to make this system fully operational."
