Delco getting ready to spend $20M, upgrade 911 system
Existing system is nearly three decades old
MEDIA >> Thousands of first responder radios may be on the verge of an overhaul that could cost Delaware County between
$20 to $40 million and take four to five years to complete.
A number of factors have created limitations on the existing
500 MHz system that is about three decades old.
“The old models that we use are changing,” Timothy Boyce, Delaware County Emergency Services Director, said. “A lot of advances have come in the last 30 years. It’s just that technology has changed.”
To begin to address that, Boyce asked for, and received, approval to solicit requests for proposals for an independent engineer to study the current capabilities of the county’s emergency communications radio system and to make recommendations for the future. Delaware County Council unanimously approved the measure Wednesday.
“Delaware County operates a historic radio system that’s called a 500 MHz system, also referred to as T-Band,” Boyce said. “In 2012, the (U.S.) Department of Commerce passed a law where they sold the rights to that spectrum to commercial television stations.”
He explained that there were provisions in that sale for public safety members to move to a different band. However, he said, there was no funding provided for them to make that move.
And, Boyce added that the Federal Communications Commission placed a moratorium on improvements to 500 MHz systems, so Delaware County can no longer make improvements to their existing system.
“There’s nothing inherently wrong with a 500 system,” Boyce said, “but it is a legacy system we’ve maintained for many years and they don’t really make the parts for public safety anymore. I would liken it to FM in your car. In the ‘80’s and ‘90’s, FM worked and over the years, people have moved to a digital system, a cleaner system, subscription-based.”
And, another issue presents challenges with using the current radio system.
“In a number of our communities, we have people hacking our radio systems,” he said. “We have communities where officers are being harassed over the radios. Offensive things are being said. We have people interfering with operations. It’s a critical life safety matter on that part.”
Boyce said these incidents cause problems with the public trust when an officer is in public and some offensive words come over his or her radio.
“That is somebody hacking the system,” he said. “That’s not an officer. I’ve had situations where I’ve had to say, ‘An officer didn’t say that.’”
Over the last year, Boyce brought together a consortium of people including police chiefs, fire chiefs, medics, staff from the sheriff’s office, park police, port officials, refinery representatives, state police and school bus transportation personnel.
“We really try to get everybody together to, one, agree that there’s a problem and more importantly, be part of the solutions,” he said, which he said was why he was asking to have an independent
“Delaware County operates a historic radio system that’s called a 500 MHz system, also referred to as T-Band. In 2012, the (U.S.) Department of Commerce passed a law where they sold the rights to that spectrum to commercial television stations.”
— Timothy Boyce, Delaware County Emergency Services
“We really try to get everybody together to, one, agree that there’s a problem and more importantly, be part of the solutions. The ask is really to do a national search for an engineering firm, report back on the existing capability of the system, what frequencies are available in the marketplace ... and then what would be a pathway forward.”
— Timothy Boyce, Delaware County Emergency Services regarding why he was asking to have an independent engineer perform an evaluation
engineer perform an evaluation. “The ask is really to do a national search for an engineering firm, report back on the existing capability of the system, what frequencies are available in the marketplace ... and then what would be a pathway forward.”
Something that would need to be considered is whether the county will assist subscriber communities with the costs of purchasing the new radios, something the county does not do currently.
In addition, Boyce said a move to an 800 MHz system would require more towers than the seven large towers and 43 smaller ones the county has.
One possibility would be working with the plethora of cell phone towers that have popped up everywhere.
“That’s where an engineer would help us understand,” Boyce said. “Are we building towers? Are we working off the leverage of what the phone companies have had?”
Currently, he added, Delaware County does not collaborate with the cell phone companies.
Delaware County Council supported Boyce and appreciated Boyce approaching them with the request before it reached emergency status.
“This is a decision in the near to immediate future that’s going to have public safety consequences, obviously consequences on the taxpayer, so I really do your proactiveness,” Councilman Kevin Madden said.
Councilman Chairman John McBlain agreed.
“I certainly think that getting an independent engineer to help quarterback the effort is a first step and a very important step,” he said.
McBlain said he particularly liked the idea of the interested and impacted stakeholders involved in the process from police and fire chiefs to firefighters working the line and patrol officers.
“It will be a large decision and an important decision for public safety,” he said. “It’s important to have all of those stakeholders in agreement. There is no one perfect silver bullet solution to this.”
He said all factors need to be taken into consideration as the county mulls over moving from
500 MHz to 700 or 800 MHz. “I think of it as like when you have kids, you have one set of problems when the kids are 4 and
5,” McBlain said. “You can’t wait until they’re teenagers when you don’t have these problems anymore but (then) you have a whole different set of problems.”
Councilman Brian Zidek noted it was helpful to be aware of the need for such a capital project, especially when other expenses need to be weighed.
“We have $300 million in debt in the county,” he said. “We just gave a tax decrease, which I was happy to vote for. We’re contemplating a cost of living adjustment to the pension, which we haven’t done in 20 years , a pension that is significantly less well-funded today then it was two months ago given what’s transpired in the stock market and then lastly we’re also contemplating spending $60 million on building government buildings across the street and a parking garage.”
Even with that, Zidek agreed that public safety is a priority.
“I certainly think that spending it on ways to keep our communities safe is a valuable and appropriate way to spend it,” he said.
Boyce said he was hoping that the national search for an engineer would commence in the next few weeks, then the group would make their own evaluations of them. He said he hoped an engineering firm would be hired in the next two to three months, with an evaluation of the current radio system and what the future could look like
90 days after that.
“This project will run a couple of years but the first step will really be seeing what is available and what price range we’re looking at,” he said. “I think it’s exciting. There’s a lot of advantages for our officers. I think it’s an exciting time I really do.”
“I think of it as like when you have kids, you have one set of problems when the kids are 4 and 5. You can’t wait until they’re teenagers when you don’t have these problems anymore but (then) you have a whole different set of problems.”
— Delaware County Councilman Chairman John McBlain