Kehoe: Communications

Upgrades Have Multiple Benefits

By John Voket

The Newtown Police Department’s long-term plan to upgrade all department communications equipment to digital technology will have direct, money-saving benefits for the town’s other emergency services. The digital conversion may also enhance officers’ and overall public safety by improving radio signal strength in areas currently prone to drop-offs with the current analog FM system, according to Chief Michael Kehoe and Emergency Communications Director Joseph DelBuono.

A $300,000 request for the digital conversion was among $8.575 million in proposals in the latest Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) that was received by the Board of Selectmen this week (see related story). During a selectmen’s meeting August 20, First Selectman Herb Rosenthal expressed some confusion over the request, pointing out that numerous communications center improvements had been recently completed.

“I want some clarifications on these radio system enhancements,” Mr Rosenthal said. “We’ve already spent a lot of money on new radios.”

Reached after the meeting, Chief Kehoe and Mr DelBuono explained that no equipment that has been acquired to date would be scrapped if a digital upgrade is completed. In fact, the conversion to digital communications equipment for the police department is designed to provide surplus parts that could keep the town fire and ambulance communications networks up and running efficiently and economically for a decade or more.

“The system the town upgraded in 2003 was the best proven technology available at the time,” Mr DelBuono said. “At that point, we determined the digital radio technology was not refined enough to make the switch.”

But like all technology, the medium advanced rapidly and has since been incorporated successfully by the Connecticut State Police, and is either in service or in the process of being incorporated by police services in New Canaan, Brookfield, Wilton, and Southbury, Mr DelBuono said.

“Bringing on a digital communications system for the department will help make Newtown more compatible with other departments, including the State Police,” Chief Kehoe said. “Wilton and New Canaan already have similar systems in service and are both very happy with the performance.”

Chief Kehoe added that those communities have similar physical terrain as Newtown, which bodes well for the prospect of enhancing local officers’ safety in notorious drop-out zones where current analog broadcasting is spotty.

While the Newtown police opted to stick with analog equipment during the last upgrade, the system was acquired with some equipment that can be migrated to the proposed digital system. Approximately 25 percent of the current new equipment is digital capable, and the Newtown detective division is already incorporating digital features like encryption on their communications devices, Mr DelBuono said.

While the latest radio infrastructure came with a short-term supply of spare parts, Mr DelBuono was concerned that an extended seven- to ten-year window of use, existing equipment rendered unusable because the supplier, Motorola, may no longer carry additional spare parts. So the plan is to retire the analog police system relatively early in its life to create a rich backup supply of parts.

That move will save Newtown from having to pay for ambulance and fire service equipment replacement for as much as a decade or more, Chief Kehoe said.

“I don’t think the savings will completely pay for the new system, but it will represent a significant savings because we will be able to sustain the other two departments for quite a long time on our surplus parts inventory,” Chief Kehoe said.

“We planned to go digital with one system to preserve new analog equipment for backup. The goal is always to extend the life of our existing investments as long as we can,” Mr DelBuono added. “And it makes sense to bring the digital system in for the police because locally, they are the biggest end user.”

He said nine out of ten emergency communications breakdowns or loss of service occur because there are no spare parts.

“We are not in a crisis situation, but a planning situation,” Chief Kehoe said, “and the more perfected technology we are looking at will ensure we are not going to go backward and compromise the officers and public’s safety.”

The first selectman said that he planned to call police and communications officials in to discuss the proposal with the board in the near future.