Did you program the Cortland County Public Safety system too? I would just enter the ZIP code for Ithaca and scan the database if I were visiting and wanted to hear it.
I did program Cortland but I don’t see any talkgroups in the RRDB for NYSP. I also can’t hear that system from my location unfortunately.
That's weird. I just looked at the Cortland system and like you said, no NYSP TGs. Sounds to me like they're known to use that system, but unknown on what the TGIDs are. I'm not sure what to do except maybe try the database? What kind of scanner you have?
The VHF frequencies are generally quiet except for 154.665 car to car. Dispatch is on the county trunked systems, generally on the Countywide Law TGs. If the system has any NYSP TGs they are generally administrative or Tac and seldom used.
I was told by a local officer that the NYSP and Tompkins Sheriff cover for each other in the rural areas of the county. I’ve also noticed that Tompkins Sheriff vehicles have both 800 MHz as well as VHF 1/4 wave whips on their vehicles which I found pretty interesting. So does Tompkins monitor the NYSP VHF system or does the NYSP monitor Tompkins? Or do they do both?
Thank you. That makes sense. That’s a much more streamlined process.
Very good info. Thank you. Nothing like in Florida where the State Troopers work on their own system and are generally not on any local systems for day to day operations.
Same for Ohio State Highway Patrol. But NYSP and Tompkins probably do monitor each other's systems for interoperability purposes. A lot of officers do.
Except Tompkins units would have no VHF capability and there is really nothing to monitor on NYSP VHF other than occasional car to car. Counties that are still on VHF generally do not have NYSP frequencies in their radios and NYLAW1 is used for Interop. But NYLAW1 is not needed within the county since NYSP and Sheriff/Town PDs are dispatched on the same frequencies. The standard in most Upstate NY counties is NYSP and local Law agencies are dispatched by the county 911 center on the county TGs or Frequencies used by all agencies.
Yeah, they're a lot different from OSHP, FHP, and most other state police agencies that I know of.
It is different Downstate and in the Hudson Valley but in the Upstate NY counties the NYSP channels or dedicated TGs are generally dead because there is no NYSP dispatch. It is all done by the county and NYSP is just another agency on the system. In some cases NYSP is primary for things like Expressway or State Highway patrols but in many cases in rural areas with only a few Sheriff and NYSP cars the nearest car from either agency is dispatched.
Interesting. Would you happen to know what the VHF antennas on Tompkins vehicles are used for?
I am not aware of any VHF Law use in Tompkins County. They may have NYLAW 1 and the adjacent Schuyler, Chemung and Tioga Law frequencies for Interop. Tompkins is sort of isolated with their own trunked system not part of CNYICC so they probably need some Interop capability. I don't know if they have any adjacent county patch capability in their trunked system.
Great info. I’ll have to add NYLAW1 to my scan list just in case. I wasn’t aware of it. But access to the VHF counties is the most likely scenario here. Thanks for your input. I appreciate it.
The only equivalent of that type of NYSP operation would be Troop T. That whole troop is assigned to the New York State Thruway. They are usually in their own little world. They operate on the NYSTA channels. While I don't know if it's their lacking interop abilities, there have been instances locally (not anywhere near Ithaca). Multiple agencies have been involved in a lengthy pursuit and subsequent foot pursuit (Border Patrol, NYSP, local PD, and sheriffs), and NO ONE was talking to each other directly because they allegedly did not have each other's channels.
The interop resources are there. However, the will to use those resources aren't there..
I'm just adding some historical background the relationship of NYSP Dispatch and County Dispatch. When I moved up here in the late 80's, all areas without local PD's were patrolled by both the Sheriff Deputies and the NYSP Troopers. NYSP dispatched calls on their zone channel and the SO used their county frequency. Citizens would call the agency of their choice. There was no coordination, so you might have a 15 minute wait for a trooper to respond to you call when there was actually an SO deputy 2 minutes away. When cellular 911 was developed the NYSP station was the answering point, which made little sense as they only could dispatch troopers, and had to relay calls for EMS, FD, and local PD's. The need for coordination was eventually recognized, but our local sheriff refused to allow the NYSP to operate on the SO dispatch channel. The work around for this was polling troopers on the 155.37 interagency channel, but coverage in our county of hills and valleys was not great.
I don't think is true for ALL of upstate. I routinely heard NYSP units calling B-Com on 155.595 and B-Com replying back on 154.905 calling out traffic stops, being dispatched to calls, etc. while I was in Blue Mountain Lake last month. I've also heard Clinton County assigned NYSP units in Zone 1 converse with B-Com as well as Clinton County Sheriff's Office communicate with "SP Plattsburgh", with Franklin and Essex County operating similarly. I think for units on a trunked system, what you described may be the case, but much of Troop B is still dispatched by B-Com while also having the ability to speak with county law enforcement dispatch as well as needed.
