Feb. 3 -- At tonight's Board of Selectmen meeting, Democratic Selectman Mike Jones presented a report showing that the two-way radios in use by Ridgefield's police department were outdated, possibly dangerously so. Just three weeks earlier, now-retired Ridgefield Police Chief Rotunda had portrayed a much more positive situation, and the Department had requested no new funds to update the radios.
After much debate, and with Ridgefield Police Patrolmen's Union President Scott Clark concurring that a radio update was needed, it was agreed that more input from Acting Chief Ligi was needed before any votes were taken. Here is Selectman Jones report:
The current police radio system was installed in 1977 and has been only slightly updated from time to time over the past thirty years. It is a "low band" simplex system operating at 45 MHz. The base station is located at Police HQ and amplified by repeaters at the High School, Branchville, West Mountain Road and Spruce Mountain/Pine Mountain (shared with Danbury). Experts estimate the base station's effective output is about 60 watts.
There are four models of Motorola radios used in the patrol cars, ranging from three to fifteen years of age. These are solid-state systems but all of older designs prone to maintenance failures. These transmit at 100 watts. The force uses 15 of these systems.
There is one model of portable used by the officers outside of their cars. These "low band" portables transmit at six watts, are old, prone to system failure, have a limited number of manufacturers, expensive to maintain, susceptible to signal blocking and/or radio skip, and require a larger antenna not conducive to police work. The force uses 25 of these items.
The network suffers from inadequate RF (radio frequency) coverage. Due to rugged terrain, foliage and variations in building construction, some experts suggest Police radio coverage is 90% for the car radios but as low as 70% for the portables. The recommended state coverage rate is 95% and the State Police are investing millions to move to 98%. Locations with weak portable coverage include inside the High School, Cassagmo, large stretches of Route 7, Geo. Washington Highway, and Caldor's parking lot. These "holes" represent a serious threat to the safety of the public and our police officers.
Resolution: Update the system with a new "high frequency" system, preferably digital, operating in the 150MHZ range, such as Redding is implementing. The new radios would have 99 channels, scan them automatically, auto-ID when transmit, self-test for system failures, and offer other reliable and useful features. This cannot be phased-in; a flash-cut installation would be required.
Requirements:
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