Newport Council to Vote on Emergency Radio Network
The City Council today is expected to authorize the spending of nearly $3.4 million for emergency radio equipment that ultimately will link city police, marine officers and firefighters with the county and nearby cities.
The existing city-county network was installed in 1973 and designed to handle 2,000 police, fire department and marine emergency radios. It was expected to serve 1.5 million people.
County law enforcement and emergency services agencies operate about 6,000 radios and serve more than 2.4 million residents.
Despite the county financial crisis, the Board of Supervisors has given preliminary approval to an equipment and service contract with Motorola Communications Inc.
Federal Communications Commission officials have given the county, 31 cities and Motorola until October to begin installing equipment or lose an opportunity to expand available channels.
The last chance to expand channels was offered 20 years ago.
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