Radios for Cops May Cost Millions | Public Safety Communications

By Andrew Abramson, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

WEST PALM BEACH ? The city could take a $5 million loss on a police radio system that it installed but never activated.

The company that makes the OpenSky radio system, however, is trying to persuade West Palm Beach to buy one of its newer products, a move that could cost the city millions more.

At the same time, a rival company is lobbying commissioners and the mayor to join the system that most of the county uses, a move that also could cost at least $1 million more.

The Palm Beach Post first reported in May 2011 that city officials had buried reports documenting OpenSky?s problems in 2009 and 2010. The sharply critical reports from the city?s technical staff described dead spots, calls that didn?t go through, jury-rigged connections, poor coverage and the difficulty of operating a proprietary system as most agencies move toward an open platform that eases communication between agencies.

Then-Police Chief Delsa Bush silenced the technical team and ordered that they play no part in the conversion. Bush resigned in the wake of The Post?s stories.

At stake is what officers say is their most important tool, one that is key to life-or-death decisions as well as their own safety.

Nearly a year ago, Mayor Jeri Muoio said that even the Harris Corp., which makes OpenSky, doubted the system would ever work in West Palm Beach because the city has dense downtown structures that could block radio signals and leave police without communication in schools, hospitals and offices.

Before West Palm backed out of OpenSky and the consortium of towns and cities that oversees the radio system, commissioners wanted a full-blown test of the system to see if the $5 million investment had been wasted. But Muoio said Melbourne-based Harris would not agree to a costly test because of its doubts over OpenSky?s ability in West Palm Beach.

Now Harris officials are meeting with Muoio and commissioners, urging them to remain with the consortium that includes Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, Juno Beach and the town of Palm Beach. In return, they are offering West Palm Beach its own P25 radio system, which is more technologically advanced than OpenSky, but that would still be run by the consortium and would cost additional money.

On top of the $5 million spent on antennas and towers, equipment that could still be used by West Palm Beach if it stays with Harris, the city also pays the consortium up to $170,000 per year. If the city were to drop out, the cost for the remaining consortium members could rise more than 70 percent. In Palm Beach Gardens, the cost would rise from $70,000 to $120,000 per year.

P25 radios work off a set of standards for digital public safety communications that are intended to be shared by public safety agencies. Both P25 and OpenSky are digital radio systems, which translate sound waves into numbers and perform with far fewer limitations than analog systems, which use sound waves in their original form. Both West Palm Beach and Palm Beach County continue to use analog radio systems.

West Palm Beach currently runs a Motorola radio system dating to the late 1980s. Motorola representatives were previously declined meetings with the mayor and commissioners. Now they?re telling West Palm Beach it could put the city on an improved Motorola system that the rest of the county outside of the consortium uses.

Motorola officials said it would cost the city $1.25 million to switch to the county?s system, and county officials said West Palm Beach would then have to pay them $7,401 per year.

?Why would any city commissioner who?s looking out for the taxpayer even consider giving that consortium another dollar?? said Gary Brandenburg, a lobbyist for Motorola. He added: ?The bottom line is that the consortium, one way or the other, mismanaged $5 million on behalf of West Palm Beach.?

Palm Beach Gardens police Col. Ernie Carr, who directs the local OpenSky consortium, called Brandenburg?s assertions ?a gross misstatement.?

?My personal opinion of the $5 million is the OpenSky system countywide is a very sound system,? Carr said. ?I haven?t talked with the mayor in some time, and if she wants a P25 system for whatever reason, Harris can still give that a whole lot cheaper than Motorola.?

Mary Brandenburg, a lobbyist for Harris and a former West Palm Beach commissioner and state representative, could not immediately estimate how much the city would have to spend on a P25 system run by the consortium. On top of the unknown costs to switch to P25, West Palm Beach still would have to spend $1.6 million for Harris radios.

?Harris is obviously one of the big players in the industry and they?re based right here in Florida,? said Mary Brandenburg, who is not related to Gary Brandenburg. ?They?re very much interested in helping out the city.?

The county eventually will upgrade to a P25-like system, said Audrey Wolfe, its facilities manager. She added that if the city allows the county to run its radio system completely, the city wouldn?t have to pay any additional costs when the county makes the P25 transition.

If West Palm Beach chooses to act as a hub for the county, as Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Boynton Beach do, then the city would be responsible for upgrading its system directly with Motorola.

Sylvia Moffett, who has been the commission?s most outspoken critic of OpenSky and the consortium, said West Palm Beach should join the county system. The city?s fire department is hooked up to the county.

?We need to get out of the consortium,? Moffett said. ?We need to get rid of the antennas on our towers. We also need to get our radio bandwidth back and all the things in the city that have been helping the consortium.?

Not every commissioner agrees. Commissioner Kimberly Mitchell said she would prefer to stay with the consortium if the figures work out. ?If everything is equal, we need to live up to our commitment to a consortium that built around our commitment,? Mitchell said.

Muoio said she is hiring an independent consultant to review options.

Vince Demasi ? who became the city?s police chief last month, replacing Bush ? said West Palm Beach must ?be cautious about believing face value, whatever salesmen are trying to sell.?

In June 2010, Bush told commissioners they?d have to spend $30 million to $40 million to leave the consortium and go to Motorola. Carr said last year he believed it would cost the city $10 million to $15 million. But Gary Brandenburg said the city just needs to spend $1.25 million to join Motorola.

Demasi said it?s all about buying and integrating a system that is proven to work and is safe for the officers.

?I need to see it in action before I own it,? Demasi said.

Copyright ? 2012 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Source: http://psc.apcointl.org/2012/09/06/radios-for-cops-may-cost-millions/

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