Jul
Police and Fire Fighters in certain parts of the City of Portsmouth still can’t safety communicate using the multi-million dollar 800 Mhz Motorola Trunked Radio system. The problem stems from the location and height of the radio system equipment and antenna’s. It is not a failure to operate correctly it is a failure in the design and location of the radio towers. The problem has existed for years but until recently it went un-addressed by the City of Portsmouth. They have been addressing it inadequately and only after several police officers voiced their concerns to elected officials about their safety and that of the public.
Portsmouth Police Department Captain R. Butler sent out an email on July 7th 2008 that outlined new repeater installations at Churchland High School that will help with the radio coverage problems but shortly after he sent the email it appears that the problem still exists putting Police and Firefighters in jeopardy. You can read about the problems in this email an anonymous city employee sent detailing recent radio problems at a SWAT incident.
Several weeks ago or perhaps a month ago a Police Officer had to use his personal cellphone to call dispatch after shooting someone because he couldn’t get on the air due to the poor city radio coverage. This problem presents a significant liability problem for the City of Portsmouth. Before all else the City of Portsmouth should be concerned about the safety of it’s civil servants. How can they protect the citizens when they can’t even communicate with other officers or dispatch?
It’s great to see the city making an effort to address the problem but what they are doing is not going to solve the problem except in the area’s near the repeaters. It’s these kind of communications problems that contributed to the death of two Firefighters in Chesapeake in 1996. Police Officer and Firefighter safety should be paramount to the City Government. If they have a long term plan to correct these problems I haven’t heard about it but welcome anyone from the City to address the issues in an open forum. It’s going to be to late if a Public Safety official dies because they can’t call for help.
I hope someone is listening in the city government, I hate to see it happen this way when it’s totally preventable. This whole issue is about money. To fix the problem correctly is going to require a multi-million dollar outlay. Based on the pay levels of City of Portsmouth Public Safety people, especially the Police Department you can tell that the city governments priorities don’t fall to “Public Safety”. They are not adequately protecting or paying their own Public Safety Officers what they should be. But they can claim to own and stay at a Holiday Inn last night.
