EUP agencies to share in new police radio gear
By JACK STOREY/The Evening News
EASTERN UPPER PENINSULA - Four area police and emergency agencies will share in new 800 megahertz radio equipment purchased under a 15-county federal grant program, a state police official announced on Thursday.
Eighth District state police commander Myles McCormack unveiled the large radio equipment purchase in a ceremony in Marquette on Thursday.
According to McCormack, former St. Ignace Post commander, several Eastern Upper Peninsula agencies will receive new 800 megahertz police radio equipment through the $740,421 grant. Under the grant program, undertaken by 15 Upper Peninsula counties, 30 local agencies and state police posts will share in the 800 megahertz equipment.
The Chippewa County E-911 operation in Kinross will receive a radio amplifier for the new 800 megahertz police and emergency network, valued at $40,000.
The Mackinac County Sheriff's Department is in line to receive two “mobile” radio sets and 10 so-called “portable” or hand-held units for use by county deputies.
State police posts at Sault Ste. Marie, St. Ignace and Newberry will receive one portable unit each for the respective post commanders.
In Luce County, two additional portable 800 megahertz units will be used by county deputies.
In a statement, McCormack said the 15-county consortium was formed to seek together federal funding for the 800 megahertz radio upgrade. The $740,421 grant, obtained from a U.S. Justice Department technology grant program, was the result.
The new radio gear will allow the 30 grant equipment recipients to form one of the more diverse “interoperable” public safety communications network in the country, the statement said. The new radio equipment will assist emergency agencies in cooperative law-enforcement and emergency work among the 30 agencies across the U.P. due to receive parts of the grant proceeds.
Improved radio communication among police, fire, ambulance and other “first responders” was among the first needs cited by officials in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks on New York and Washington. On the respective scenes of those disasters, first responders often found themselves unable to communicate with each other or with different units in an attempt to coordinate rescue attempts.
Similar communication problems cropped up during the long and difficult aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana and Mississippi.
Among the many communication problems encountered by front-line responders were radio networks working on different frequencies and on-scene equipment that did not function properly in the heat of a real-time emergency.
For a number of years, E-911 officials and police agencies have sought expensive radio upgrades to the 800 mehahertz system to improve long-distance emergency communication.
The grant proceeds should move Upper Peninsula agencies farther along toward a fully coordinated emergency radio network.
