Five years ago
Porter County was moving towards an 800 megahertz rebanding project for
emergency communications. Now, after some setbacks, it is one of only a few
counties in the state that hasn’t made the jump to P25 updates for
interoperable digital radio systems.
Over a dozen
firefighters, EMS workers, sheriff’s police officers and staff of the
County’s Emergency Management Agency attended Tuesday’s Porter County
Commissioners’ meeting where a presentation was given on the County’s
30-year-old VHF radio system and the benefits of opting to be part of the
P25 upgrade by the state’s Integrated Public Safety Commission (IPSC).
Portage Fire Chief
Tom Fieffer said emergency service teams were successful in obtaining over
$1.5 million in grant money in 2011 and 2012 for new radio sets to meet the
narrowbanding standards with the last project moving towards the 800 mhz
system.
However, they have
not been successful since in getting subsequent grants.
County Commissioner
President John Evans, R-North, said that even with the admirable efforts by
former 911 Communications Director John Jokantas and his successor C.J.
Wittmer, the County has “seemed to have fallen through the cracks” on
getting the system up to speed.
Because of this,
the advisory board for the 911 Communications Center will be revived.
“We got away from
that and we’d like to go back to that,” Evans said.
Leading the
presentation, Northern Indiana Accounts Manager for Motorola Jay Burla said
the P25 platform launched with the IPSC first in 2014. Counties and cities
that purchase systems and equipment in the state will not have to pay
maintenance or upgrades guaranteed for the next 20 years with Motorola being
the vendor, saving them potentially millions of dollars.
However, the County
would need to join the system which Burla said would be a one-time
investment of about $9.8 million.
That would consist
of constructing five tower sites in the county -- near Duneland, Portage,
Valparaiso, Boone Grove and Kouts/Hebron.
Evans said it’s
something that “obviously” the County would need to take under advisement
and have discussions with the County Council and the 911 Advisory Board.
Burla and ISCP
Field Director John Asher said the system currently holds 64,000 users and
the new system will be able to hold up to 128,000 users.
Fieffer said it
would take 12 to 18 months to fully integrate the P25 system. He said it
would be preferable to have it in place by 2018 when the law will require a
new set a bandwidth standards.
“It’s a huge number
but it’s something we have to do,” Fieffer said. He is hoping the
implementation can be done in ways that are less burdensome for the
taxpayers.
County Commissioner
Jeff Good, R-Center, said the municipalities should be included in
discussions to see how they can help.
“I don’t know what
the (solution) is but we need to have the dialogue,” said Good.
P25 equipment is
all digital and uses such applications as Bluetooth that can instantly send
vital data to emergency responders.
Burla said that
LaPorte and other surrounding counties have put up tower sites already and
that will give Porter County a leg up in its interoperability.
Buying the
equipment in bulk, the County would save more than $5 million as the cost
would otherwise be more than $15 million, he said.