$58.8-Million Sheriff’s Radio Setup Approved

A sophisticated $58.8-million communication system that will enable law enforcement officials to communicate countywide in times of disaster was approved Tuesday by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

The new system, to be phased in by 1990, also will provide sheriff’s deputies with walkie-talkies, equipment that for years has been standard issue in most large police departments.

After more than a year of negotiations and a flurry of last-minute lobbying against the proposal by the losing bidder, the board voted 3 to 1 to award the lucrative contract to ElectroCom Automation Inc. of Arlington, Tex. The firm has installed similar radio systems for the cities of Fort Worth, Houston and Miami as well as for the Florida Coast Guard, said Sheriff Sherman Block.

9,000 Equipment Pieces

Once the system is fully implemented, nearly 9,000 pieces of equipment will be in use. These range from six mountaintop microwave transmitters to nearly 2,000 portable radios. Currently, deputies are virtually tied to their patrol cars when trying to communicate with dispatchers, Block said in arguing for the new system.

In addition to the walkie-talkies, the system also will include car-based computer modules that will enable deputies to enter and receive information quickly from a central computer. New dispatching equipment to improve emergency response time also will be installed, Block said.

Block did not find it easy to persuade the board that the new system should be adopted, particularly after the losing bidder, Systems Development Corp., forecast that the eventual cost of the project would exceed $200 million if the county chose ElectroCom. System Development, which submitted a $72.2-million bid for the new radio system, installed the current Sheriff’s Department communication setup and also the one being used by the Los Angeles Police Department.

Calling the losing bidders “masters of misinformation,” Block said that System Development “has a system down the street (the LAPD’s) that is not working well.” The LAPD’s system was installed in 1978 and is nearing capacity, although it was designed to meet the city’s needs into the 1990’s, a company official said last week.

Counting interest on bonds sold to finance the purchase, the system could eventually cost $112 million. The county would pay most of that, and about $12 million of that would be paid by the 36 cities that contract with the Sheriff’s Department for police services. The county--in an unusual contract provision--pledged the county courthouse and the sheriff’s radio center as collateral for the bonds.

Expressed Doubt

Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who supported the new system, expressed some doubt about using the courthouse as security, asking, “What if something went wrong and somebody had to take the courthouse?”

Block, to laughter, said, “Nobody’d probably miss it.”

In arguing for the system, Block said, “The sheriff’s current voice communication/dispatch system (installed in 1973) is outdated and congested, creating long delays in communicating vital calls for service and data-base inquiries to the patrol deputies. For several years, the Sheriff’s Department has been the only major law enforcement agency in the United States that does not have a portable (walkie-talkie) radio system.

“Law enforcement jurisdictions consider the portable radio capability essential for an officer’s safety.”

Block told reporters that morale in the department will climb as a result of the vote, adding that his deputies constantly ask when they will receive walkie-talkies. He said that they will be phased in over the next two years.

The sheriff said the walkie-talkies will enable law enforcement officers throughout the county to communicate via microwave relay transmitters during emergencies in which other means of communication are cut off.

All local police and other law enforcement agencies also will be able to patch into the system in case of an emergency, Block said, on one of 55 channels dedicated for the Sheriff’s Department. The LAPD, by comparison, has 16 radio channels, Block added.