Post by Gremlin on Mar 25, 2008 17:06:45 GMT -4
This is going to make the analog scanners almost obsolete in the Bloomington Area, start saving for that digital scanner (not from Radio shack, get a UNIDEN BCD396T). But don't get rid of your analog scanner, I'm sure there going to find problems using the new trunking radios inside buildings and like the County, they'll still use the analog from time to time.
A $345,000 federal earmark will be used to make sure all 88 Bloomington Police Department officers are outfitted with new 800-MHz portable police radios.
U.S. Rep. Baron Hill, who helped secure the funding through Congress’s Labor, Health and Human Services appropriations bill, was in town Monday to congratulate city officials on the grant. Standing in front of the city’s new live fire training tower on South Walnut Street, he praised community leaders for their attention to public safety. “I’m glad to do something for the city of Bloomington,” he said.
Police Chief Mike Diekhoff said the grant amount of $345,920 will be used to buy 50-55 new radios. That purchase, coupled with some radios the department already has thanks to another round of grant funds, should be enough to give each officer a portable radio and have enough left for new officers and spares, he said.
He said the city’s fire department already mostly operates on the newer radios, as do the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office and the Indiana University Police Department. The city needs them so all area law enforcement and rescue personnel will be working with the same equipment. But they’re very expensive — he recalled a price of about $4,000 each when the department first started looking at them — so the earmark was needed, he said.
“This will allow us to issue radios to everyone,” Diekhoff said. “It’s really a tremendous asset and benefit to us.” He said the new radios will be purchased as soon as possible.
Bloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan was on hand, saying public safety is one of the hallmarks of his administration. He said he expects to announce a new public safety appropriation once planning for the 2009 city budget begins, letting slip only that the funding will focus on the fire department and will not be for operations.
Kruzan also congratulated police officers and firefighters who attended the brief ceremony.“I hope you view these as monuments to the job you’ve been doing,” he said, referring to the city’s new training tower, which allows firefighters to train in live fire situations, and the city’s new firing range, which is still under construction.