Switch puts city ahead of tech curve
By Jennifer Eisenbart
Staff writer
With a switch to a fully digital radio system nearing completion at the City of Burlington Police station, the department received approval Tuesday night for the final piece of equipment.
The City Council approved the purchase of a new intercom/recording system by unanimous vote – a system that Police Chief Peter Nimmer said is the last piece needed for the upgrade.
The cost – not to exceed $14,900 – was included in the 2012 city budget. The new system will allow the officers and staff to communicate throughout the building, and also record sound from the jail and booking room.
The cost actually came in about $3,500 under budget, in large part because General Communications is still in the process of installing some of the radio equipment at the station and can offset some of the cost because they will already be there.
Nimmer said Tuesday afternoon that the project – a complete digital upgrade of all the radios and dispatch equipment at the station – is about 80 percent finished.
The department is waiting for a digital repeater to be installed and for programming of portable radios and then the intercom system.
Nimmer said the process has gone “very smoothly.”
“With the new 911 system that’s up and running, we’re now able to receive cellular phone data and locations, which is very important,” Nimmer said. “Most 911 calls are done through cell phones nowadays.
“When we get that call, we’re able to pinpoint the location of the cell phone, which we weren’t able to do before.”
He also stressed that it’s beneficial to replace the old system because it was increasingly difficult to find parts when something broke down.
The total cost of the project is estimated at about $200,000 – about $40,000 was covered through grants. Since federal law requires all radios to be narrow-banded in the near future, it made sense to make the switch now, Nimmer said.
“It made sense to make the project encompass that, to make the radios go digital,” he said. “Everybody’s moving to digital. We’re just ahead of the curve.”
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