Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Radio system criticized as costly could require millions more | wkyc.com

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Date: Tue, 05 Nov 2002 12:56:04 -0500

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Radio system criticized as costly could require millions more

Tuesday, October 29, 2002
COLUMBUS -- Linking police and fire departments to the state's new $320 million radio system could cost taxpayers millions of additional dollars, according to a nonpartisan study.

Lawmakers already have criticized the system as too costly.

If all local police, fire and emergency agencies joined the system, the total cost "would be in the tens of millions of dollars," according to the analysis by the Legislative Services Commission.

The state's $328 million Multi-Agency Radio Communications System will update Ohio's radio system to allow officials with 13 state agencies to communicate with each other.

Lawmakers approved the system after problems communicating during the 1989 Shadyside floods and the 1993 Lucasville prison riot.

Darryl Anderson, MARCS program manager, didn't dispute the analysis but said some counties could save money by hooking directly to the system rather than upgrading older, existing systems.

Anderson said the state sees ways of hooking existing systems to MARCS and "save taxpayer dollars" in almost every county.

The state is developing a plan allowing local governments to pay a fee for police and fire departments, emergency management agencies and hospitals to join the system.

The fee would help pay a small portion of the state's $5 million to $10 million yearly operating cost, Anderson said

The state hasn't announced the fee yet. The initial estimate was about $650 per radio per year. The final figure, to be announced by the end of December, will be "significantly less," Anderson said Monday.

In Columbiana County, Sheriff David Smith said it makes more sense to hook up with MARCS instead of spending "hundreds of thousands of dollars" to upgrade his own system.

MARCS would allow rescue workers from different departments to communicate by radio, allow reports to be filed directly from police cars or allow photographs of suspects to be e-mailed directly to officers, for example.

Smith said the state will continually upgrade the system as technology changes, "whereas if you have your own private companies you're dealing with, you'll have to buy all that technology from the vendors."

Bob Cornwell, executive director of the Buckeye State Sheriffs Association, said many sheriffs remain concerned about the cost.

"It's a fantastic and great system, it's just not affordable from the counties' perspective," he said Monday.

Sen. Eric Fingerhut, a Cleveland Democrat, said it was "wishful thinking" that local agencies could afford to join MARCS.

Anderson said the state is hoping to use federal money made available after the Sept. 11 attacks to help reduce costs.

Many local departments don't have the equipment needed to link with MARCS, according to the analysis completed last month.

"At a minimum, these radios would have to be upgraded, and in many cases replaced, with new technology," the analysis said.

The state would also have to share codes needed to link to the system, raising security systems, the analysis said.

The more jurisdictions that use the system, "the more widely known these codes become," the analysis said. "This poses a concern for both state and local officials."

Related
MARCS system

© 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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