Members of the county’s Police Chief and...

Members of the county’s Police Chief and Sheriff’s Assn. discussed the launch date of Orange County’s long-awaited $80-million, 800-megahertz radio communications system Wednesday during a meeting in Costa Mesa. Irvine is scheduled to be the first of the county’s 32 cities to implement the new network, which will connect police, public works and fire authorities in a countywide communications network; it replaces the county’s 27-year-old, 400-megahertz communications system.

Officials noted that the county’s 1994 bankruptcy and arguments over the new system’s cost have slowed the project. “We should have had our system up in April,” said Irvine Police Chief Charles S. Brobeck, who is overseeing the system’s implementation in the city. “In fact, we were scheduled to have it last year.”