Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Atlantic County News: The Press of Atlantic City

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 16 Nov 2002 13:32:35 -0500

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/atlantic/111502COMMUNICATE_N15.html

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November 15, 2002

Countywide emergency radio network now online

By THOMAS BARLAS Staff Writer, (609) 272-7201, E-Mail

EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP -
Atlantic County's new $6 million emergency radio network that allows all county police, fire and emergency personnel to communicate with each other is up and running, officials said Thursday.

Most county agencies and Northfield, Longport, Ventnor, Egg Harbor City, Brigantine, and Galloway and Egg Harbor townships are using the system, they said, and more municipalities in the county will join the network as soon as possible.

The network is the first of its kind in the state and significantly improves the county's ability to deal with emergencies, County Executive Dennis Levinson said during a press conference at the Anthony "Tony" Canale Training Center here.

"County residents can sleep a lot safer tonight because of what we have," he said.

There's only one problem left, Levinson said.

"We hope and pray that this unit will never be used," he said. "We know that, if it's called into operation, there will be a crisis."

The project began about six years ago when Atlantic County Freeholder Joseph Silipena headed a committee to research the possibility of a central dispatch system for the entire county. That plan died after municipal police, fire and emergency departments argued that their communities would know their coverage area better than a central dispatch operation would.

Even though the central dispatch system was abandoned, county officials said the study brought up one important point: the inability of the various police, fire and emergency departments to communicate directly with each other.

That was evident a few years ago during a multijurisdictional search for an armed-robbery suspect. Law enforcement agencies could talk directly to each other, and at one point resorted to using runners between different stakeout locales.

Silipena continued working on the project, which now focused on creating a new countywide radio and communications network now in operation.

It also allows local and county departments to communicate directly with State Police.

The system, Silipena said, is considered state of the art and can be used for at least 20 years.

County officials said another reason for developing the system involves homeland defense.

In that regard, the current system has a major advantage over a central dispatch system, said Rick Mulvihill, who heads the Atlantic County Department of Public Safety.

The central location of a central dispatch system makes it easier to knock out the system, he said.

To e-mail Thomas Barlas at The Press:

[email-masked]