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New police radio system may cost over $1M
By KAYLA MATZKE, News-Record Writer kmatzke@gillettenewsrecord.net
Gillette may spend about $925,000 to replace the police department’s portable radio system with a new 800-megahertz portable radio plan with Motorola.Some $675,000 of the $1.6 million project comes from several federal grants.
City Administrator Mike Muirhead said the City Council budgeted for the new digital radio system last year but the project wasn’t completed.
Police Chief Richard Adriaens said that the department had to conduct a radio study that involved testing radio frequency and finding the new tower’s location. The new radio contract has been carried over to the City Council’s current agenda.
Last year the city budgeted for $1.125 million for the project including the combined grant money, all of which has rolled over to fund the current project, Adriaens said.
For the new radios, the city will put up a new Motorola tower and add an antenna onto a water tank.
Adriaens said the new radios with higher frequency are needed so officers can receive full coverage in all areas of the city, penetrating through buildings. Now, coverage with portable radios is hampered by basements and taller buildings.
“In certain areas of town it’s difficult to get coverage,” Adriaens said.
Officers don’t have a signal in the North and South campuses of Campbell County High School and in many parts of downtown, he said.
The portable radio systems that officers use today have been around “forever,” Adriaens said. “Those frequencies were dished out by the county 50 years ago.”
The police department must also upgrade to the higher frequency system to meet FCC regulations mandating a change in frequency to free up lower frequencies that have a shortage, he said.
The new system will be in sync with WyoLink, a statewide radio coverage project used by authorities and emergency crews. Officers in the City of Gillette don’t work with WyoLink now.
WyoLink allows Gillette’s officers to correspond with officers in Rock Springs and other cities and towns throughout the state in case of an emergency. The project was created after 9/11 and that’s where the federal grant money comes from, Adriaens said.
The 800-megahertz system will work together seamlessly with WyoLink to create one communication method with expanded opportunities.
If Gillette didn’t upgrade to the new radio contract, city police would be forced to use WyoLink, which could be a safety risk since coverage wouldn’t be complete, Adriaens said.
“It would hinder our operations and hurt us. As the city grows we’ll be able to expand and provide coverage to officers,” Adriaens said.
WyoLink was designed for transmitting signals for in vehicles where more power is located. The county and highway patrol use WyoLink.
When the new tower is up and the radio signal is working, the department will have complete in-building coverage with more frequency.
Council members will vote on the proposed project Monday. If it passes, the construction of the tower will start in July.
“This should be up and going by probably the first of the year,” Adriaens said.
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