By Andy Taylor
Montgomery County Chronicle – October 3, 2013
Submitted by Newz Group Clipping Service – October 22, 2013
Gaps in radio communication between law enforcement and emergency services throughout in Montgomery County may be rectified under a plan offered at Monday’s Montgomery County Commission meeting.
For years, law enforcement and emergency services have contended with gaps in radio communication in various parts of Montgomery County. Those gaps obviously lend themselves to problems when sheriff’s deputies, firefighters or ambulance personnel are responding to emergency situations.
On Monday, the commission learned of a plan that would fix the gaps…but require a hefty price tag in the process. Darren Felts of the Montgomery County Rural Fire District #1 offered a plan to purchase a radio trunking system using available towers in the county. The radio trunking system would put all law enforcement and emergency services on a narrow radio bandwidth while repeats would boost the signal to the farthest corners of the county, he said.
Providing the full radio trunking system will cost about $300,000 while the purchase of new radios will likely cost the same, Felts said.
A Federal Communications Commission grant package will assist counties with the infrastructure and radio purchases. The grant program is a 90-10 formula (90 percent paid with the grant, 10 percent will require a match from county funds).
Commissioners agreed to pursue an application for the FCC grant in hopes that the money would be awarded and begin the process of changing the radio system for law enforcement and emergency services in the county.
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