Ocean City NJ PD on NJICS Talkgroup 5287

[mshumeyk]

Last night I had the SDS100 on search on the NJICS Cape May Simulcast Site and picked up PD dispatches on talkgroup 5287. I recorded the transmissions and tracked the addresses of incidents and clearly it is Ocean City PD Dispatch in the clear. The Unit ID# for all transmissions 508999, so it must be a patch.

Will monitor a bit longer before submitting to confirm this will be ongoing and not just temporary or a patch to be used during mutual aid incidents like the recent "juveniles gone wild on Saturday night."

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Dang, was just in Cape May the other day. Had I have seen this earlier I could have plugged the talkgroup in to see if it's still active, ah well. Would be nice to hear OCPD again but they've been "dark" for over a decade now AFAIK on Atlantic County's TRS

 

[jaymatt1978]

I have them in my SDS200 and heard them once or twice I'll keep my ear on them

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Been sitting on the beach in OCNJ parked on this talkgroup on the NJICS for a few hours, not a peep. Must have been a patch

 

[NParkNJ]

Been sitting on the beach in OCNJ parked on this talkgroup on the NJICS for a few hours, not a peep. Must have been a patch

Aren’t they on the Atlantic County system? Just asking a question as I live way up northern NJ. Just observing what was/is in DB.

 

[saber2k5]

That was a patch, and was only up briefly.

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Aren’t they on the Atlantic County system?

AFAIK they've been fully encrypted on said system for years

31101	797d	TE	OcnCity PD 1	Police 1	Law Dispatch
31102	797e	TE	OcnCity PD 2	Police 2	Law Tac

 

[mshumeyk]

I've been monitoring the Cape May Simulcast regularly and after that week or so of the patch I haven't heard any more Ocean City activity. I suppose it might have been a test to prepare for the possibility of a major event in OC which might require assistance from Cape May and state agencies, but that is just a guess. Fortunately, despite communications being in the clear for that period, there were no reports of major lawlessness, chaos and anarchy in Ocean City.

 

[mshumeyk]

The Ocean City PD patch from Atlantic County P25 to the NJICS Talkgroup 5287 on the Cape May Simulcast has again been active for the past two days. It remains in the clear. I am not sure why it gets activated, although yesterday OC had a Turkey Trot race, and the Cape May County Sheriff's K-9's as well as other Sheriff units have assisted in similar events in Cape May. Perhaps coordination with the Sheriff was the reason for the patch and it stays up only until a technician disables it. That is only a guess.

Because this patch has shown up several times on this talkgroup, albeit only occasionally, I will submit it to the database.

 

[GTR8000]

Patches can be permanent, temporary, or on-demand. Permanent is self-explanatory; temporary can be done by setting up the patch on a console and leaving it up until no longer needed, at which point it is "knocked down"; and on-demand means that the patch is always available although may not always be active. On-demand patches will be active as long as a subscriber radio is affiliated with the patch TGID, in this case NJICS TG 5287.

 

[mshumeyk]

Patches can be permanent, temporary, or on-demand. Permanent is self-explanatory; temporary can be done by setting up the patch on a console and leaving it up until no longer needed, at which point it is "knocked down"; and on-demand means that the patch is always available although may not always be active. On-demand patches will be active as long as a subscriber radio is affiliated with the patch TGID, in this case NJICS TG 5287.

Patches can be permanent, temporary, or on-demand.

Thank you for the explanation. As an aside, I’ve heard some Cape May County Fire Chiefs request county communications activate a patch between their NJICS talkgroup and the VHF analog FD frequency as not all departments apparently have not fully transitioned to NJICS.