PSA
Benton County Central Dispatch would like to share some exciting news with the community.
As many of you know, the communications platform being used by Benton County emergency responders was antiquated and in need of critical upgrades. The need for this upgrade was imminent as without it we were putting our emergency responders, in the field, at risk of being unable to communicate important information to dispatch or other field units. Information that may have been critical to the safety of the responder, citizen, patient, crime victim or other person in need.
The process of transferring into our new radio / communications platform has been ongoing for nearly a year, and just last week has gone live.
This project included the construction of a new 180 ft communications tower located at Benton County Central Dispatch, new radio equipment in all patrol cars within the county including Benton County Sheriff’s Office, Warsaw PD, Lincoln PD, and Cole Camp PD, as well as new upgraded portable radios for all law enforcement personnel within the county. All new, upgraded equipment has been installed at the radio repeater locations and within the server room at the 911 dispatch center.
Moving to the digital system simply means better radio coverage throughout our county. Benton County Sheriff’s Deputies respond to emergencies in all corners of the county, many of which have historically been areas with no radio coverage creating substantial safety concerns. The Digital system will make it possible for responders to communicate in areas where the analog system had failed them in the past. Please keep in mind that while no radio system is fool proof, this upgrade will greatly enhance our communications capabilities within the county. Law Enforcement will now have the ability to communicate details surrounding active investigations to other responding units more effectively without the risk of information being missed due to a lap in coverage.
Something many of you may notice is the inability to pick up radio traffic on your scanners. The reason for this is that when we decided to move forward with the upgrade, we decided to move from the existing and outdated analog system to a new digital system with encryption. Unfortunately, the older analog scanners are no longer compatible with the digital system on which the new platform operates. Although we may find this frustrating at first, understanding the benefits of the new platform may be helpful.
Having our channels encrypted further restricts criminal suspects of having the advantage of monitoring radio traffic or the ability to stay a step ahead of law enforcement in efforts to evade apprehension. Additionally, this option restricts the use of information heard on a scanner to potentially cause harm to our responders. The encryption option also benefits our citizens in many ways. For example, we occasionally find ourselves away from home on vacation, maybe a medical issue has caused a stay away from home, or maybe we own a vacation home within Benton County in which we visit during a holiday or a weekend at the lake. Officers regularly conduct residence checks on these properties. These residence checks can now be conducted without inadvertently notifying the public the house may be vacant or temporarily unoccupied. We will also no longer be publicly broadcasting restricted information such as names, social security numbers, birthdates, addresses etc over a public channel. This will help protect all of us.
Departments across Missouri have already moved to Digital Radio Systems, and more will follow. Benton County is expanding and changing and with that we need to continue to improve in the way we protect those who protect us. The world is much different than it was when this Analog system was installed. Technology is forward moving, and we at Benton County 911 are excited to move forward with it.
We are trying to take the steps needed to better serve you and better protect who you care about most, all while protecting those we care about most.
Thank you,
Jessica Mayfield
Benton County Director of Communications E9-1-1
Original source can be found here.
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