Committee to be formed to address emergency communications countywide

Monday, September 22, 2008

Communication between the city and county emergency departments was the key issue at Thursday morning's meeting of the city of Dyersburg's Public Safety committee, with representatives from the city and county agreeing to investigate communication problems between emergency departments throughout the region.

The meeting was moved from Mayor John Holden's conference room to the municipal courtroom to allow the representatives of many area departments to join city officials for the discussion.

The committee, consisting of Chairman Bob Kirk, Mayor John Holden and aldermen Shannon Walker and Lewis Norman, was joined by Dyer County Mayor Richard Hill, Dyer County Sheriff Jeff Holt, Dyersburg Police Chief Terry Ledbetter, Dyersburg Fire Chief Bob Veal, Dyer County Emergency Operations Manager Mark Grant, communications expert Chris Young, and several county commissioners and aldermen.

At the meeting, alderman Shannon Walker brought up the lack of communication between emergency responders in the city and county departments, but the issue soon blossomed to include the importance of connecting city and county law enforcement officers with the Tennessee Highway Patrol, city and county firemen, the city of Newbern emergency departments, representatives of Dyersburg Electric System and emergency responders throughout the West Tennessee area.

"I have mentioned - and others have, too - that a city police officer in a car across the street from a county officer cannot talk to him on the radio," said Walker. "(We are looking for) a short-term solution (for this problem.) This is not a discussion on 911 consolidation."

"The greatest threat in our area is the possibility of a earthquake," said Chris Young of West Tennessee Communications, who said that in addition to talking to each other directly, emergency responders must be able to monitor each other's channels during an emergency or natural disaster. "My recommendation is to get a committee together from each office and try to work out a solution to bridge this gap. If we did this study, I think we could find something that works for both the city and the county. Something that would tie those systems together."

Young also suggested looking into grants for the project, including those available through the 911 Board.

"There can be a lot of money spent to bridge the gap," said Young. "There is a lot to this. I suggest (representatives from) 911, the city and county police and fire departments, the city of Newbern and possibly Dyersburg Electric (be named to the committee). (This will help) not only in national disasters, but every day. A year ago, there was a bank robbery in Newbern. I don't think the Dyersburg police knew about the situation until they saw it coming. I believe an officer was shot. I don't know if that could have been avoided. But every day, (events occur) across the nation that can be helped with interoperable communication."

"Your dispatch can patch to county cars," said Dyer County Sheriff Jeff Holt. "It may be that other departments using your system should be knocked off and told to get their own radio system. The other end is already up. Put the fire department on and everyone will be able to talk to everyone."

Holt said he currently has a UHF band in his car that allows him to communicate with departments across West Tennessee by changing the channel.

"It has been a problem and it is still a problem," said Dyersburg Police Chief Terry Ledbetter. "It needs to be addressed and the committee would be a start. The emergency side is more important than other links on our radio and I think we should be taken care of first."

"We do need to get something done," said Dyersburg Fire Chief Bob Veal. "We had a committee up here last year that made a recommendation to the 911 Board. We've still got about 150 firefighters in the county that can't talk to anybody. If there is a disaster in the county or city, the fire department will be in charge. I don't want to have to call dispatch to patch me through to a fireman in the county. I want to push a button to talk to someone."

Walker made a motion for Dyersburg Mayor John Holden and County Mayor Richard Hill to appoint a committee to investigate the issue. The motion was seconded by Norman, and passed unanimously.

Kirk asked that the committee also look into the cost of the solution.

Comments

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It's coming. We are going to have a major event come and we are not going to be ready. We need to stop forming committees and do something now. First Responders need to put in to place at every corner of this county with wide open communication ability. How hard is it to break down the county into sections and put aside the yours and mine attitudes for the better good of our community. I have seen earthquake maps put out by experts and we are as likely to have the "Big One" as California. Also the way tornado alley has moved more to the EAST. It is highly likely our community can be wided off the map like places on the Gulf. So someone please step up and be the fabric and common thread that brings the vital services together.

-- Posted by commonsense84 on Mon, Sep 22, 2008, at 9:54 AM

A bunch of us "ole retired" guys meet everyday for breakfast. I was informed by the group that the problem clearly rest on the shoulders of one elected law enforcement official. If I read Chief Veals comments correctly, this will be the same ole song and dance as previous committie recommendations, where one person will stop progress dead in its tracks. Sad, sad, sad.

-- Posted by simplemindediam08 on Mon, Sep 22, 2008, at 6:49 PM

If we could outfit all of the county resident voters that have a scanner attached at the hip with a scanner capable of receiving 800MHz digital trunken transmissions then it would be a no brainer. The system would've been in place a long time ago. If they let the county officers off the 400MHz band then alot of Dyer Co. scanner patrol voters will be upset that they can't monitor the DCSO's traffic. It's all about votes folks. This would upset some people enough to vote different in the next election. Plain and simple.

-- Posted by youknowimright on Mon, Sep 22, 2008, at 9:12 PM

This sounds all too common around the country. This is why many agencies and even states have gone to installing radio gateway systems to interlink multiple agencies together. With just a few clicks of the computer mouse, you are able to connect radios of different bands and formats together. Even the National Guard have installed this type of equipment after hurricane Katrina to allow them to communicate with local public safety agencies.

The state of Virginia is now installing gateways to inter link 32 dispatch 911 centers together. This system uses an IP network to link all of the centers. It will allow to inter connect what ever radio channels they connect to the gateways. This system is being installed by Sytech Corp from Alexandria, VA. It is using a gateway called the RIOS.

-- Posted by jim202 on Tue, Sep 23, 2008, at 5:48 AM