New police radio system causing problems

BATTLE CREEK (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - In March Battle Creek area police departments joined together to replace their dispatch system.

This new system was supposed to be an upgrade to help officers stay in communication while on the beat, or more importantly, in crisis.

But the new $4 million dispatch system is running into some problems. It doesn't always work.

"They're going to ask about going in on Cliff Street, PD isn't there yet," said Commander Jackie Hampton.

When emergency calls come into the Calhoun County Central Dispatch Center officers on the street are sent where ever they need to go. That makes their radios one of their most important pieces of equipment.

"When you think about a radio, anytime an officer calls for help, he needs a radio there and someone to answer that radio, so he can receive that help," said Hampton.

It's a pretty straight-forward system, when it's working.

"It's a huge safety issue right now. Because we can't communicate to dispatch and vice versa, somebody's going to be hurt and killed, it's just a matter of time," said Officer Joe Wilder with the Police Officer Labor Council.

Several months ago Battle Creek Police switched over to 800 megahertz radios from the old VHF system.

It cost tax payers $4 million and was supposed to make communication more clear, but it has problems.

"Officers aren't hearing officers, dispatchers aren't hearing officers," said Wilder. "It's going both ways as well. If an officer's getting in trouble, they're trying to call in for back-up, they're not getting the calls."

The city is working with Motorola to figure out just what the problem is and why these calls are getting dropped.

But until they pin-point the problem, they can't come up with a fix.