Project 25 Phase 1 merged dispatch?

[Wilson21]

I listen to Porter County, Indiana. Indiana Project Hoosier SAFE-T. I have a bcd996xt base scanner sitting on my desk next to my moniter and case inside an apartment using the silver antenna it comes with out the box. I only want to listen to a certain town but with ems/fire and sheriff I hear other towns miles away too. Since all the towns to me seem to run out of one disbatch theres no way to filter them out. Is there anything I can do or is that just how this county is run at the moment? Sometimes I wish they would go back to analog so I can hear who I want. I wonder if local police hear chatter from other towns too how do they filter it out? I just like to listen no interest in talking over a radio right now.

 

[AK9R]

The State of Indiana has mandated that counties reduce their number of 9-1-1 call centers and public safety dispatch centers. That pretty much eliminated the numerous small-town 9-1-1/dispatch centers and their individual frequencies.

The population of my county is estimated at 182,000. The three largest towns in the county are estimated to have populations of 36,000, 31,000, and 24,000. Before the county went on SAFE-T, each of those towns had their own dispatchers and their own frequencies. Now, there is one dispatch center and all law enforcement is on one talkgroup and all fire/EMS is on one talkgroup.

What you are experiencing is common across Indiana. There's really no way around it.

 

[west-pac]

Not every town's police and fire have to be on time same channels.

In Huntington County; Huntington city police, and Huntington County police are on different channels. Huntington city fire, and Huntington County Fire depts are on different channels. The same applies to Well county law enforcement, Wabash county LE and Fire depts, Whitley county LE and Fire depts, Allen County LE and FDs.

Having all LE, and all FDs on the same channels is not the norm.

 

[Wilson21]

Police and fire is on different talk groups. But sometimes the person talking on the radio has their mics set to different levels than others and now the volume offset setting is useless on my scanner. Wish they could at least give all the smaller towns or any town in general their own talk group ID so you can filter out the far away towns and still run it all out of one dispatch. Would like to be able to just hear the one town I live in especially if another town talks first and I miss something in my town. The setup they have seems not friendly to who ever wants to just listen. I wonder if I can get a license for a certain radio that can somehow filter out other towns unless that is not possible in this case even for active duty police. But I know they have other means than just the radio to communicate. But I kind of figured there is nothing I can do I thought I would ask around. Thanks

 

[AK9R]

Wish they could at least give all the smaller towns or any town in general their own talk group ID so you can filter out the far away towns and still run it all out of one dispatch.

Some counties have done that. Some haven't. It could be a staffing issue. If each town had its own talkgroup, multiple dispatchers would be required to keep up with the traffic.

The setup they have seems not friendly to who ever wants to just listen.

Public safety radio system managers typically do not build their system for the casual listeners. They build it for the users.

I wonder if I can get a license for a certain radio that can somehow filter out other towns unless that is not possible in this case even for active duty police.

No such radio exists. If Town A police and Town B police and the county sheriff deputies are all on the same talkgroup, then they all hear the calls for other towns. Once the decision is made to use just one talkgroup for multiple agencies, then all of those agencies hear everybody else's radio traffic.

 

[KD2GSW]

The fire tones are listed here: Porter County (IN) - The RadioReference Wiki

You can program your BCD996XT to only unmute for the respective local fire/EMS tone out.

PCSO uses the one dispatch TG for the entire county and this is common for Indiana.

 

[Wilson21]

Thanks everyone for the responses that helped clarify it a bit more.

 

[INDY72]

The IN mandate applies to PSAP's, Public Safety Answering Points (-911 call centers). Limits each County to 2. The combining of dispatch centers is a nationwide trend of cutting down costs for departments nationwide, NOT just here in IN. Having 6 dispatch centers with gear is EXPENSIVE! It is far easier and cost effective to combine operations! When you can take the gear for 6 locations, and put them all into 1 dispatch center, its a lot cheaper, and easier on maintenance! That is just how it is now. Some areas, like here in Marion County took it another step, by literally merging not just the dispatch centers, but also combining agencies. (Same has happened in Kentucky and other states in metropolitan areas.) Here in Marion County, instead of over 8 separate dispatch centers for all the municipalities, there are now only 3. Indianapolis, Lawrence, and Speedway. All the (municipal) LEA's other than Speedway, and Lawrence are dispatched by IMPD. All the FD's/EMS, with the exception of Lawrence are under the dispatch umbrella of IFD & IEMS. The Schools/Universities, and Airport Authority are also separate but all have Mutual Aid Agreements, and share our radio system.

 

[INDY72]

Police and fire is on different talk groups. But sometimes the person talking on the radio has their mics set to different levels than others and now the volume offset setting is useless on my scanner. Wish they could at least give all the smaller towns or any town in general their own talk group ID so you can filter out the far away towns and still run it all out of one dispatch. Would like to be able to just hear the one town I live in especially if another town talks first and I miss something in my town. The setup they have seems not friendly to who ever wants to just listen. I wonder if I can get a license for a certain radio that can somehow filter out other towns unless that is not possible in this case even for active duty police. But I know they have other means than just the radio to communicate. But I kind of figured there is nothing I can do I thought I would ask around. Thanks

Filter them by RID. Monitor and log the traffic, learn what RID's are for which agencies that way. Then when you see those RID's and hear the call signs you know who is who.