Joint Boardman-Austintown-MetroParks dispatch nearing operation
Dispatcher Bill Davis checks a multitude of screens and readouts in the new Boardman-Austintown joint dispatch center. The departments joined to get a digital radio system to comply with federal mandates, and the Mill Creek Metroparks have joined with the system.
By Susan Tebben
BOARDMAN
The new joint radio-dispatch operation that started at the end of January has two consoles in and one to go, according to police. The new system should be fully up and running in the next few months.
With one console in the $1.5 million Motorola digital radio system ready, the Boardman and Austintown police departments are testing out the new radio range, which they say is better than ever. The equipment updates were made to comply with a federal mandate for narrow-banded public-safety land-mobile radio systems.
The Mill Creek MetroParks last week joined the system and has had a good experience so far.
“Our main problem with the radios was having outlying areas where we had no service, properties we had in Struthers and Yellow Creek Park,” said Lt. Randy Campana, of the MetroParks police. He also said there was trouble covering parts of the bikeway in Canfield and Austintown that are now covered with the digital system.
“So far, so good; it’s pretty impressive,” Campana said.
Austintown Police Chief Bob Gavalier reported at a recent township-trustees meeting that coverage is better across the area in connecting portable and car radios with emergency dispatchers.
Boardman Police Chief Jack Nichols told Gavalier a police officer close to the Sharon, Pa., border communicated with an officer in Beaver Township.
“We have to do some fine-tuning, of course, but it’s going well,” Gavalier said.
The cost of the system was shared by those involved in the system, and the system is owned by a council of governments formed by the two townships.
The radio system has a one-year warranty, and a maintenance agreement still is being decided. An agreement including Motorola’s monitoring of the radios would cost $40,000, but the joint council is looking into other options, according to officials.