Montreal, QC - $200M Overhaul for Fire/Police Communications

[Jay911]

The city of Montreal has announced it will proceed with an overhaul of the communications systems used by its police and fire departments, a project that could cost taxpayers $200 million over the next four years.

But while police officers will find themselves supplied with GPS-equipped radios and firefighters will finally be able to share an emergency channel with police, the equipment used by Urgences Santé ambulance technicians will not be a part of the communications upgrade.

Communication overhaul for fire, police services could cost $200M

 

[N4KVE]

Whatever they do, they will screw it up in typical "Quebec" fashion. When I was there a few months ago, the bridges connecting the Island of Montreal with the rest of the Province were falling down as they have had absolutely no maintenance in decades. They are probably still paying for the 1976 Olympics. GARY N4KVE

 

[mtlfirebuff]

No actually we have finished paying for the Olympics a few years ago. The fire dept is on a P25 system that was upgraded about 6 or 7 years ago. From what I gather the new police system will have interoperability with the fire dept system. They are also talking of encrypting the police system. Due to problems with other corrupted contracts, the communications contracts are going to be split amongst multiple vendors guranteeing a major crap screwed up system.

 

[plaws]

No actually we have finished paying for the Olympics a few years ago. The fire dept is on a P25 system that was upgraded about 6 or 7 years ago. From what I gather the new police system will have interoperability with the fire dept system. They are also talking of encrypting the police system. Due to problems with other corrupted contracts, the communications contracts are going to be split amongst multiple vendors guranteeing a major crap screwed up system.

There are those that say that would be better than being beholden to Mother M!

Aside from old equipment -- some of SPVM's infrastructure could be 20 years old -- what problem is a fifth of a billion dollars expected to solve? And why are they not going with RENIR or RSP? Weird.


Of course PD and FD should NEVER share a channel, but you can't say that now.

 

[Jay911]

I get the impression that they're not necessarily saying they're going to "share" a channel, but that they will have interoperable (common) talkgroups on the new system/upgraded system.

 

[plaws]

I get the impression that they're not necessarily saying they're going to "share" a channel, but that they will have interoperable (common) talkgroups on the new system/upgraded system.

Understood. Still don't believe Red and Blue need to have common channels.

 

[msradell]

Understood. Still don't believe Red and Blue need to have common channels.

There are many incidents where having the ability to talk to each other is very advantageous. Evacuations of an area due to a chemical leak or other such incident is certainly one that I can think of but of course there are many others. Every area needs to have this capability and having a common TG is certainly a great way of handling it.

 

[plaws]

There are many incidents where having the ability to talk to each other is very advantageous. Evacuations of an area due to a chemical leak or other such incident is certainly one that I can think of but of course there are many others. Every area needs to have this capability and having a common TG is certainly a great way of handling it.

That's what command posts are for. Small towns are one thing; Montreal is not a small town.

 

[mikewazowski]

Well put, plaws.