Davis to DPS system?

[MoparManor]

Visited with the Police Chief this week and he shared concerns that we probably wouldn't be joining the system this year and that he believed that the license for the rogue frequency and repeater had arrived Monday or Tuesday.
We also visited about the new 911 center taking over dispatching duties and thier falling well below expectations, both in quality and functionality.
I fully support the concept of centralizing dispatch for emergency services in a small rural county, but it can't be done "on the cheap" or with any favoritism. I do realize that many of the "bugs" will take time to work out, but frankly at this point in time it is pretty much a joke.

 

[car2back]

I agree that "going 800" is very cost prohibitive for small agencies; hopefully they'll be able to get a DHS grant and get on board before long. Good work, thanks for the news!

 

[SABRE46]

With the money that we just dropped on 30 new vhf radios, Screw 800.

 

[car2back]

With the money that we just dropped on 30 new vhf radios, Screw 800.

Exactly. I think the cost to get Sperry FD on the State/Tulsa system was around $200,000, and there still isn't a 800mhz radio in every truck or every firefighter's hands.

 

[SABRE46]

With the money that we just dropped on 30 new vhf radios, Screw 800.

An addition to this is that ours actually work whenever, wherever we need them...

 

[MoparManor]

I agree that "going 800" is very cost prohibitive for small agencies; hopefully they'll be able to get a DHS grant and get on board before long. Good work, thanks for the news!

My comments about our current situation were not directed at the DPS system or the costs involved . By now, we should all know that it is going to happen eventually no matter how we feel about it. They were more about our new county-wide E 911 center and it's capabilities. Lastweek we lost fire-paging capability for over a full day and have been dealing with 1 dispatch console that is so faint that one has to be in a quiet area to hear anything more than the squelch breaking for the last 2 weeks. At least the repeater has stayed up for a whole week. It was published in the paper that there would be 2 seasoned dispatchers at all times with a 3rd on projected peak periods. I fear that 1 of them may end up being the jailer in a separate facility. As far as seasoned goes, let's say that they are doing the best that they can with what they have to work with. Another stepping stone is the re-addressing for 911 versus the postal service and the jurisdictional boundaries.
We did get some grant money and it went toward handhelds that are programmable for the trunked system.

 

[PolarBear25]

My comments about our current situation were not directed at the DPS system or the costs involved . By now, we should all know that it is going to happen eventually no matter how we feel about it. They were more about our new county-wide E 911 center and it's capabilities. Lastweek we lost fire-paging capability for over a full day and have been dealing with 1 dispatch console that is so faint that one has to be in a quiet area to hear anything more than the squelch breaking for the last 2 weeks. At least the repeater has stayed up for a whole week. It was published in the paper that there would be 2 seasoned dispatchers at all times with a 3rd on projected peak periods. I fear that 1 of them may end up being the jailer in a separate facility. As far as seasoned goes, let's say that they are doing the best that they can with what they have to work with. Another stepping stone is the re-addressing for 911 versus the postal service and the jurisdictional boundaries.
We did get some grant money and it went toward handhelds that are programmable for the trunked system.

I Agree with that assessment, I believe that the DPS system is simply better.

 

[SABRE46]

Our view on it is why fix it if it isn't broken. The biggest issue we deal with is dispatchers forgetting about us.

 

[PolarBear25]

True, Choctaw's 800-1700 dispatch isn't that bad is it?

 

[SABRE46]

True, Choctaw's 800-1700 dispatch isn't that bad is it?

Its not our dispatch, its county. They have alot of stuff to do with not nearly enough people.

 

[car2back]

Our view on it is why fix it if it isn't broken. The biggest issue we deal with is dispatchers forgetting about us.

I see what you're saying; I still haven't figured out what the solution is to something like that when the "boss" doesn't think it's a big deal.

 

[PolarBear25]

Its not our dispatch, its county. They have alot of stuff to do with not nearly enough people.

True that, I agree with you 125%.

 

[SABRE46]

And it's not that I have anything at all against my dispatchers but when you are dispatched by the same office that does county sheriffs and the eastern oklahoma county p.d. units, who are busy almost all the time, they tend to lose us in the mix. Especially if they are shorthanded. (Which happens a lot)

 

[PolarBear25]

Yep, they need like 3-5 dispatchers on duty at a time.

 

[plaws]

And it's not that I have anything at all against my dispatchers but when you are dispatched by the same office that does county sheriffs and the eastern oklahoma county p.d. units, who are busy almost all the time, they tend to lose us in the mix. Especially if they are shorthanded. (Which happens a lot)

Is that dispatch set up with a dedicated fire desk? Or do the police dispatchers do fire when they have the time?

 

[SABRE46]

Is that dispatch set up with a dedicated fire desk? Or do the police dispatchers do fire when they have the time?

They have a fire console but it's rare that it's manned unless one of the 9 departments thats on the fire net catch a call. Most of the time, its whoever hears traffic on that channel that answers you at dispatch. Listen to OCSO, EOC p.d. units and the fire net and you will hear the same voices on all 3 channels alot.

 

[MoparManor]

Visited with the Police Chief this week and he shared concerns that we probably wouldn't be joining the system this year and that he believed that the license for the rogue frequency and repeater had arrived Monday or Tuesday.
We also visited about the new 911 center taking over dispatching duties and thier falling well below expectations, both in quality and functionality.
I fully support the concept of centralizing dispatch for emergency services in a small rural county, but it can't be done "on the cheap" or with any favoritism. I do realize that many of the "bugs" will take time to work out, but frankly at this point in time it is pretty much a joke.

Found the repeater site yesterday where I suspected it last week. There is an antenna hanging off of the water tower at "A" & Chigley. Was able to substantiate this when OG&E was restoring power to the repeater. The repeater went down during the period of time that we were fighting 3 fires almost simultaneously at different sites, miles apart. There was so much traffic trying to use our single frequency, that it was appx. 30 minutes before anyone noticed that the repeater was down. It was actually when 2 departments failed to respond to assist when it was discovered. Luckily OG&E was onsite at the fire just south of town and was notified and responded by a firefighter on the scene, since they were unable to communicate with dispatch in Sulphur on our frequency. When the 3rd fire was reported on the Interstate the brush rigs and tankers onscene at the working fires & mop ups moved to Sulphur Fire's frequency to free up air for the 3rd fire and the police department to be able to respond to "other" calls. Radio Service advised that it would be next week sometime before battery back-up for the repeater could be installed.

An article in the newspaper stated this week that the new E-911 center had held open house and that all was performing according to plan,that they had been over staffed, and had ammended their scheduling of dispatchers.......LOL

 

[WX5JCH]

If your paying $200,000 for 800, you got problems. Contact Ok. Homeland security, (not the supermarket), get on the 2009 grant list and you will have all the radios you need. I got more stuff from them that we can store.

Jim