County radio system fails

Barrow Journal

RSS Feed

Email Alerts

Twitter

Facebook

County radio system fails

Posted by

Mike Buffington

in Public Safety Archives, Top Stories & Breaking News

Wednesday, May 2. 2012

Comments (11)

Barrow County’s failing emergency communications system has a new problem: heavy interference that since Saturday has made the fire and fire backup systems inoperable. And Tuesday night, the backup transmitter for law enforcement calls also went down. So firefighters — and most of the county’s law enforcement officers during two early-morning SWAT team incidents — both used the county’s EMS channel.

Barrow County Emergency Services Chief Dennis Merrifield said Wednesday morning that he has asked the county’s communications vendor to search for some used equipment that hopefully will keep communications intact until the new digital system is in place seven or so months from now.

For the full story, see the May 2 issue of the Barrow Journal.

Trackbacks

Trackback specific URI for this entry

No Trackbacks

Comments

Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

#1 Priorities on 05/02/12 at 11:25 AM [Reply]

When your priorities are on other things, the main purpose of government fails and fails again to protect the people. But I guess the BOC is too busy running the tax payers (YOU) lives to be concerned with such things...

#1.1 Anonymous on 05/02/12 at 11:29 AM [Reply]

Thank God, the BOC isn't in charge of the Sheriff's Office

#1.2 Anonymous on 05/02/12 at 11:34 AM [Reply]

Thank God, the BOC isn't in charge of the Sheriff's Office...

#2 Tick, tick, tick... on 05/02/12 at 07:49 PM [Reply]

Wait until someone loses their life providing that public service (Sheriff, Fire, EMS or Police). Besides the millions paid out in a negligence suit, enjoy explaining the situation to that person's family. "Sorry they're dead, but they weren't worth the expense." Radios are their lifeline. Good luck with that.

#3 concerned on 05/03/12 at 08:41 AM [Reply]

Mr.Buffington
Please do an article on what kind of NEW SYSTEM the county plans to install. Im sure it will be junk since Walton and Gwinnett counties paid way more than 10 million for their respective systems. I bet you will find out that the system Barrow is looking at will be no better than what they have now.

#3.1 Alarmed about lack of Alarm! on 05/03/12 at 11:35 AM [Reply]

Mr.Buffington…
I too implore you to take an in depth look at the radio system that is being proposed here in Barrow.
The truth of the matter is that the County is putting lives at risk, both public safety officers and citizens, alike!
Lowest bidder and lowest IQ’s should not be the job requirements for the architect(s) of the proposed radio system, as it will have support the County’s emergency communication needs forward; who knows how many decades in to the future.
And I for one have NO CONFIDENCE in either the abilities of the Chief of Emergency Services or this BOC…
On a very serious note; It is time for the citizens of Barrow (and this includes the good citizens of Winder) to collectively come together and shape not only a blueprint for the emergency communications but, engineer a sustainable and progressive means of delivery of all emergency service within the county.
Because it’s FRAGMENTED & BROKEN and someone you know life will depend upon it!

#4 no clever name on 05/03/12 at 09:24 AM [Reply]

have any of you heard the BCSD radios? they are horrible. any new equipment will be better than what they have now.

#5 Homeland Requirements on 05/04/12 at 05:27 AM [Reply]

The BOC and the Emergency Services need to look into the policies set up by the Department of Homeland Security. They have minimum requirements for communications of all agencies in the country. These were developed after the communication issues that arose out of the September 11 attacks.

#5.1 BobbyLee461 on 05/10/12 at 09:12 AM [Reply]

P25 digital two-way radio is a standard recommended by the FCC, DHS and APCO, but it is NOT mandatory for public safety agencies to switch to this technology. P25 is extremely expensive to purchase and maintain compared to analog and other digital protocols. Several counties and cities in Georgia have elected to switch to 700/800 MHz P25 Trunked Radio Systems that have cost each county several million dollars, usually $12 million and up, plus these systems cost one or two million per year to maintain. I understand Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett County pay Motorola somewhere in the neighborhood of $2 million each per year to maintain their systems and they still have "dead spots." Is that what elected officials, public safety officials, residents and business owners in Barrow County want?

There are a few counties and cities in Georgia who have elected to either remain with analog conventional systems or switch to other digital protocols like MotoTRBO or NEXEDGE because they could not afford to purchase and maintain a P25 System and related equipment. Check with Jackson County, Laurens County, McDuffie County, Paulding County, Tattnall County and more have elected to take routes other than P25 and it has saved their counties millions.

#6 Bill Fillman on 05/04/12 at 01:36 PM [Reply]

TAIT has responded to Barrow County's RFP for a new radio system.
We have offered a robust, DHS standards compliant system and provided multiple Public Safety customer references whose systems are comparable to Barrow County's and who will attest to the offered systems's great call quality and infrastructure reliability.
We hope we receive an unbiased evaluation from the County and remain confident we have offered the best value to Barrow County without compromising technical standards.

#6.1 Reality bites on 05/05/12 at 01:20 PM [Reply]

Problem is, the closed minded north Gawag hillbillies can side step the RFP process by paying "state contract" price (which is usually much more than market rates) and go with the vendor who schmoozes and buys their way in.
Look at how Rockdale county got ripped off. Legit RFPs were IGNORED from Harris and Kenwood.

And we he people pay for it every time.

Add Comment

Name
Email
Homepage
In reply to
Comment: E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications.
To leave a comment you must approve it via e-mail, which will be sent to your address after submission.

To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly.

Enter the string from the spam-prevention image above:
Phone*

What is nine minus seven?
: Remember Information? Subscribe to this entry

This Week's Poll

Community

Barrow Community

County radio system fails

Barrow Journal

County radio system fails

Recent Stories

Recent Comments

This Week's Poll

Sister Sites

Archives

Community

Keyword Tags