http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-stam.radios3may04,0,3774895.story?coll=stam-news-local-headlines
By Christina S. N. Lewis
Staff Writer
May 4, 2004
STAMFORD -- Hoping to inspire immediate action, the Stamford police union proposed two short-term fixes for the city's flawed radio system at yesterday's monthly police commission meeting.
The Stamford Police Association suggested to the commissioners that officers could patrol in pairs, rather than alone, or the police department could buy 20 extra cell phones for patrolmen to use as alternative walkie-talkies in case they hit a radio "dead zone."
"We need to do something right away," said Sgt. Joseph Kennedy, union president.
The union has complained for several years that the dead spots in the radio network endanger officers because they can't call for backup.
The police department has hired a consultant to review the current radios and to create a plan to replace them, but a complete overhaul is years away. Union officials said the city should not wait that long.
Placing two officers in a car would cost the city nothing, said the union's attorney, Jay Sandak, and would give officers immediate backup.
But commission members appeared wary of the plan because it would decrease the number of patrol cars on the street from 20 to 10 and likely increase the response times to incidents.
Commissioner Adele Gordon said she needed to know how much the cell phone option would cost before supporting it. Sandak estimated the 20 additional phones and plans would cost about $25,000 per year, but admitted he had not done detailed calculations.
Cell phones should be only a temporary measure, union officials said. The phones provide about 95 percent coverage in Stamford in contrast to the current radio system which works in 82 percent of the city, Kennedy estimated.
But dispatchers would not be able to use the phones to contact officers. The cell phones would only be used by officers when they had no other way to get in contact with headquarters.
In the past five months, the union has catalogued about 35 incidents where officers tried to use their radios and could not get through, Sandak said.
The incidents include:
* On Feb. 6, an officer responding to a car crash on Trinity Pass in North Stamford had to use the victim's cell phone to call a tow truck and ambulance to the site.
* On Feb. 8, an officer tried to contact dispatch several times while he was engaged in a motor vehicle pursuit through Houston Terrace and Waterbury Avenue, and only succeeded as it ended. The suspect struggled and the officer only subdued him when backup arrived.
The system has had problems since it was installed in 1988, but union officials said the out-of-contact zones are getting bigger. The technology is already six years past its ten-year shelf life.
The dead zone traditionally ran up a ridge on the eastern side of the city starting around Seaside Avenue, but officers say it has spread.
Kennedy said that the association first complained publicly about the aging radios in February 2002 and is frustrated that no action had been taken.
The union plans to lobby the issue at every subsequent police commission meeting and will sit in on the department's meetings with the police radio consultant.
"This is strictly a safety issue for the officers and the citizens," Kennedy said.
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