Conversation with a cop about AWIN

[wbswetnam]

Today after lunch I spoke briefly with some police officers who were standing in line to pay at the cash register. They were officers with the Pope County Sheriff's office, which uses the AWIN radio system probably 98% of the time - on occasion they use their vestige VHF system if they can't get through on AWIN. Here is how the conversation went:

ME: "So, when will you get your new radios?"
COP: "Oh, we just got them last week, brand new radios."
ME: "Oh, so you're ready for the new upgraded AWIN system?"
COP: "No, we don't use AWIN, we're digital. We use digital radios, not AWIN."
ME (confused): "Ahhh, OK, I thought that you used AWIN almost exclusively for your radio communications."
COP: "No, we don't use AWIN, we use digital radios."

What the (bleep)?

 

[Boy77777777777]

Lol!!!!!

 

[cmdrwill]

The radio users ??? are clue less. So much for training.

 

[DJ11DLN]

It all sounds depressingly familiar. It's been said before, most LE never draws a firearm in the line of duty but they train extensively and qualify on a regular basis. All LE uses their radios multiple times every time they're on duty but training usually takes about 5 minutes and probably only happens when new radios are issued...if then. "Just go play around with it for awhile before you go on duty, you'll figure it out."

Now imagine that philosophy being used towards firearms, investigations, surveillance techniques, establishment of probable cause, etc.

I could tell some eyebrow-raisers about stuff I've heard from LE about their radios, but the forum isn't that big. And they all know that it's the absolute truth, graven in stone and handed down from on high, because the Post Commander or the Sheriff or the Police Chief told 'em it was so.:roll:

 

[KK4JUG]

It all sounds depressingly familiar. It's been said before, most LE never draws a firearm in the line of duty but they train extensively and qualify on a regular basis. All LE uses their radios multiple times every time they're on duty but training usually takes about 5 minutes and probably only happens when new radios are issued...if then. "Just go play around with it for awhile before you go on duty, you'll figure it out."

Now imagine that philosophy being used towards firearms, investigations, surveillance techniques, establishment of probable cause, etc.

I could tell some eyebrow-raisers about stuff I've heard from LE about their radios, but the forum isn't that big. And they all know that it's the absolute truth, graven in stone and handed down from on high, because the Post Commander or the Sheriff or the Police Chief told 'em it was so.:roll:

I spent 30+ years in law enforcement. Every word is true.

 

[wbswetnam]

I suspect that a lot of LE officers assume that because "we have digital radios, they're brand new", that they cannot be monitored by the public. Wrong-o! Not unless they are encrypted, which as we know, "digital" doesn't necessarily mean "encrypted".

 

[INDY72]

Lol OMG lol the guys are a blast

Sent from my LG-K330 using Tapatalk

 

[03msc]

Last line of the above:

ME: "Right. Digital P25 radios which access your department talkgroups on the statewide Arkansas Wireless Information Network radio system, or AWIN for short."
Cop: *blank stare*

 

[AI7PM]

Granted, first resonders don't get enough good radio training, AND, It's only a tool to them. They know how to (mostly) use it, not how it works. Same with LIDAR, RADAR. the siren and lights.

They don't need to know all of the technical specifics. Really, why would the user care if VFIRE21 is P25 but 22 is NFM? They aren't the radio shop. They go to the prescribed/dispatched channel and communicate.

 

[03msc]

Granted, first resonders don't get enough good radio training, AND, It's only a tool to them. They know how to (mostly) use it, not how it works. Same with LIDAR, RADAR. the siren and lights.

They don't need to know all of the technical specifics. Really, why would the user care if VFIRE21 is P25 but 22 is NFM? They aren't the radio shop. They go to the prescribed/dispatched channel and communicate.

True...

However, I find that some do know. Wonder why the difference? Do some get more explanation than others? Just pondering...

 

[n5ims]

True...

However, I find that some do know. Wonder why the difference? Do some get more explanation than others? Just pondering...

That has a pretty simple answer. Some are interested in radio and others are not. For both groups the radio is just a tool so all that they MUST know is this is the on/off/volume knob and this knob changes channels and these channels are used for these functions. For those that are interested in radio, they ask more questions and may know what type of radio (analog, P-25, conventional, trunking, etc.) and possibly how more of the functions on their radios work.

It's just like their mobile computer (or terminal) where those that care may understand how to change fonts, colors, sounds, etc. while others that use it because they have to and don't care to know any more about it than that are happy understand that F9 brings up the license check screen while F5 brings up their call list. You can make the same association with their car where some know everything about it while others can't even tell you what kind of tire they have when they call dispatch to send out a tow truck because they have a flat (and dispatch needs to tell the driver if it's a 5 or 6 lug wheel for example).