[Scan-DC] Balt Co Upgrades (MORE)

[Alan Henney]

The Baltimore Sun

April 3, 2009 Friday
FINAL EDITION

BALTO. CO. UPDATING POLICE, FIRE NETWORK;
WORK BEGINS ON FIRST TOWER IN $57 MILLION SHIFT TO DIGITAL

BYLINE: Nick Madigan, nick.madigan at baltsun.com

SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. 5A

LENGTH: 549 words

The crackling police radio is a well-worn cliche, a sound embedded in
the folklore of crime. Cops calling dispatch, sometimes on matters of
life and death, have long had to compete with the hissing and
sputtering of their two-ways.

In Baltimore County, at least, that scenario will be consigned to
history. Law enforcement officials on Thursday broke ground in
Woodlawn for a new digital radio transmission tower, part of a $57
million project to replace the county's aging public-safety radio
network by late 2011. In all, 10 new digital towers will be built
around the county, and eight existing analog towers will be upgraded
to the new technology.

Some of the 6,000 two-way radios operated by county police and fire
personnel will be enhanced with software that accepts digital
transmissions, and the rest will be replaced, Robert R. Stradling,
director of the county's Office of Information Technology, said after
the groundbreaking ceremony.

For the benefit of undercover police officers, he said, 600 of the new
radios will be equipped with encryption devices that will render them
inaudible to regular police scanners, which can pick up virtually any
analog communication without hindrance.

Speaking with the animation of someone who has just been given a bunch
of new high-tech toys, Stradling said the digital radios will also
have a program that eliminates or reduces background noise from, say,
wind gusts or passing cars, leaving the predominant voices relatively
pristine.

"We've also had some issues with transmitting from inside brick or
stone buildings," he said. "We won't have that problem any more."

Neither will Baltimore County have trouble communicating with
surrounding jurisdictions that use analog systems. "We'll keep our
analog up and running so that we can talk to them, until they get
their own upgrades," said Stradling, who volunteered that he has been
helping Baltimore City officials "come to grips" with the idea of
setting up their own digital communications system.

James T. Smith Jr., the Baltimore County executive, said that while a
new digital communications network does not qualify as a "sexy"
subject - he compared the excitement of the topic to water pumps and
sewer lines - it is important for the county's emergency personnel to
be able to "communicate seamlessly with their partners in county
government and other responding agencies."

Smith said the new network "will help ensure the safety and security
of all of our citizens." He said the county had signed an agreement
last year with state officials under which some of the towers will be
built on state-owned properties, while the state will place some of
its transmitters on county towers.

The system, Smith said, will incorporate the Department of Public
Works' radio network, enabling those workers to communicate seamlessly
with police officers and firefighters.

Richard G. Muth, executive director of the Maryland Emergency
Management Agency, said the key to mitigating a disaster is "the
ability of first responders to have effective communications" and
access to shared resources. Under the new system, already used by
emergency personnel at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood
Marshall Airport, "fire can talk to police without going through a
third party, as was the case in the past."