Police Radios In Saskatchewan
I received an email from one of the groups I belong to. This particular email was about the new statewide radio system that Florida was going to install. The fellow that originally sent the email is the founding member of the Yahoo Group 911Lifeline and currently works for New York Police Department.
A litle history is in order. Back in 1996 the RCMP were in the process of installing a new radio system for the Province of Saskatchewan. This system was originally put together by a company called Ericsson from the USA. SaskTel bought the system from Ericcson and installed it into Saskatchewan as FleetNet.
Of course the RCMP communication center in Regina had this new fleetnet system installed and piggy backed it onto their VHF radio system. The new system was going to be the best radio system ever and the best thing since sliced bread. While we in the RCMP were getting used to the system, we had a couple technicians from the head office of Ericsson in our office instructing the dispatchers on how to use the system.
The one fellow I was talking to had just finished up installing the Ericsson system in Dade County, Florida prior to coming to Regina. Now for those that don't know or don't watch CSI Miami, this is the county around the city of Miami, Florida. The technician advised me that the dispatchers in Miami really liked the new system. I enquired as to how many patrol units each Dade County dispatcher would look after at one time. He replied about 20, but it could slip up to about 25 units for a tremendously busy zone.
I showed him one of RCMP zones and advised him that this particular zone had about 150 patrol units to look after. The Province of Saskatchewan at the time was divided into 4 radio zones (5 when there was manpower available to man the position). The technician could not believe that we would handle that many patrol units with one dispatcher. So we counted them up on the screen and we were showing about 145 at the time, but more to come on duty for the evening. This fellow just about fell out of his chair and was just blown away. He just had to get his camera and take a picture of this as the folks back home in the States and the dispatchers in Dade County would never believe him if he had no proof. By the way, this was the Zone 2 area of Saskatchewan which encompasses the Craig through Saskatoon to North Battleford and Lloydminster corridor.
To make a long story short, this SaskTel Fleetnet system just never flew with the RCMP so the RCMP decided to go with another company. This system is currently being installed in Saskatchewan at present by the new company M/A-Comm. I really haven't heard how they are making out, but it does seem to be slow going so far.
Now here is a copy of the email I received (note the company that is supplying the new statewide system): Quote:
--- In 911Lifeline@yahoogroups.com, Michael Wallach
wrote:
Recently, Florida Governor Bush touted the new state-wide
communications system. He was particularly proud of its
interoperability capabilities, saying that it is a "model
system." The governor does have much to be proud of for sure. And
it is true that the interoperability of the system is very
impressive. But apparently Florida intends to secede from the Union.
Why do I say that? Because the state choose to implement a M/A-Com
system.
M/A-Com uses a proprietary protocol that is not compatible with APCO
P-25, or for that matter, any other system or scanner. Therefore,
despite all of their capability, they still have no interoperability
with the Federal government or any other state that they may need to
call upon for mutual aid.
Originally this was supposed to be a Motorola system, and had
actually gone to contract and started development. For many reasons
in a long and sordid story, Motorola was replaced by M/A-Com.
It makes you wonder why it is still so difficult to make
comprehensive decisions that consider all the details. Did I say
details? I meant important considerations. Hans Christian Anderson
would understand.
Unquote:
Gee you wonder if lightening would strike twice for a radio system for the Province of Saskatchewan. It appears that this new M/A-Comm system being installed in Florida is not compatible with anything else in the USA at present.
Any bets it will be any different in Canada?
Monday, October 16, 2006
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The current RCMP still divide their radio zones into 4 (and 5) zones, however, there was a reallignment done a few years ago. (With the new radio system being installed this may have changed). Instead of the 150 patrol units that were once in Zone 2, most zones have approximately 70-80 patrol units to look after.
Now this can vary according to the time of day, day of the week and of course the season. In the summer time on a Friday and Saturday evening, there are usually twice as many patrol units as there are in the winter months on a Sunday or Monday evening.
The 5th zone is also there when there are enough staff to actually man the zone. When this zone is up and running then each zone would have in the neighbourhood of 50-60 patrol units.
Believe me at times, this is a handfull for the dispatcher. Of course in the quiet times, the dispatchers can normally look after things fine. It is when the 'shit hits the fan' that they then have trouble keeping up.
I always found it interesting that when one unit decided they would do a quick highway check program that almost everyone else decided that it would be a good thing for them to do the same thing. The call load increased astromically at these times. Of course there were no more dispatchers to help, just the poor sod that got stuck in that zone at that particular time.
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