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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNB 6 XFER SAL SVGS 12-07-81DATE: Dec. 2, 1981 NEW BUSINESS No. 6 12~7-81 Inter-Corn FROM: SUBJECT: HCNORABLE MAYCR A~D CITY COUNCIL BILL ~USTCN, CITY MANAGER It is recommended that the City Gouncil authorize the transfer of $5,000.00 from the Police Department salary account to the Police Department capital outlay account for the purpose of acquiring police communications equipment. DISCUSSICN: Attached is a memorandum from the Police Chief which discusses the need for the equipment. Ordinarily a request to reappropriate m~nies during the fiscal year would not occur, however, since the equitm~ent is essential for proper police Go~ma%ications, the request is being proposed at this time. There are monies in the Police Department salary account to cover the cost of the equilmlent due to salary savings as a result of vacancies. BILL I-1US21~, City Manager DATE: November 19, 1981 NEW BUSINESS No. 6 12-7-81 Inter-Corn TO: F ROM: SUBJECT: Bill Huston, City Manager C. R. Thayer, Chief of Police Police Radio Communications Enhancement Recommendation That approval be granted for utilizing money available through personnel savings in the Police Department budget for necessary enhancements in the Police radio communications system. Background Due to the considerable growth experienced in the city since our existing police radio system was installed, we are now encountering serious problems in maintaining necessary radio contacts. This problem is especially severe with hand held, portable radios in the southern portion of the city. These problems are addressed in Sgt. Semelsberger's memo to Lt. Wakefield dated November 16, 1981, which is attached. Research has been conducted with Orange County Communications' assist- ance. The recommended solution was to install a receiver voting system as is explained in the correspondence attached ~om Don Poorman, Chief of Communications for Orange County Comauunications. As the southern area of the city continues to develop, radio commun- ications in that area will continue to deteriorate. It is felt that the recommended enhancements of the present system will serve our needs adequately for some time to come, at a reasonable cost of approximately $5,000.00. Monies from salary accounts identified as real savings due to Depart- mental personnel shortages could be utilized to finance the system enhancements. I strongly urge approval of the recommended modifications. C. R. Tha~er Chief of 'Police CRT/FW/mh ~ ~OUNTY OF RANGE ~_ ~~/ENERAL SERVICES AGENCY COMMUNICATIONS DIVISION DONALD W. POORMAN CHIEF OF COMMUNICATIONS 48! THE CITY DRIVE SOUTH ORANGE, CALIFORNIA 92668 November 6, 1981 7~4a34.z~22 T. R. EGAN DIRECTOR Robert Campbel 1 Chief Charles Thayer Tustin Police Department 300 Centennial Way Tustin, CA 92680 Dear Chief Thayer: The Communications Division's engineering staff has reviewed the coverage problem areas supplied by your department. A survey of these problem areas was conducted Saturday morning, October 24, 1981, by Sergeant Frank Semelsberger, supported by patrol officers and the Dispatch Center. Gary Gray, Communications Engineer, represented the Communications Division for the survey. Two different types of communications coverage problems were separately addressed. The ability of field personnel to communicate with the Dispatch Center over handie- talkies is of prime concern, especially during periods of emergency. The survey included GREEN Channel reception frommobiles and handie-talkies in the reported problem areas. Weak signals from the handie-talkies were observed in many of these areas, while the mobiles provided solid communications. The survey also included tests at the City Yard to determine its suitability as a potential site for the installation of auxiliary radi6 equipment. Direct Communi- cations on the WHITE Channel were established to the same survey locations used for the GREEN Channel tests. Signals received on a handle-talkie atop the City Yard office building from the field handie-talkies were generally good-to-excellent, with only a few locations being fair. The equipment and antenna system which would comprise a permanent City Yard auxiliary installation would provide communications far superior to that observed during the survey, and should be quite adequate. The second type of communications coverage problem addressed was the ability of the Dispatch Center to con~nunicate with field personnel using handie-talkies. Sergeant Semelsberger and Gary Gray made tests at many of the same survey locations used above, and found that the hand~e-talkies had no problems receiving the Dispatch Center. Analysis of the survey suggest that Tustin will. be able to enhance their GREEN Channel operation by eliminating or greatly reducing handie-talkie coverage problem areas with the installation of a receiver voting system and auxiliary base station satellite receiver located at the City Yard. A suitable antenna structure is already installed at that location. Signals received by this auxiliary receiver would be fed to the Dispatch Center over a leased telephone line. The monthly cost would be approxi- mately $15.82, plus a one-time installation charge of approximately $94.86. Chief Charles Thayer -2- November 6, 1981 The receiver voting system operates to improve handie-talkie communications in the following manner. An officer with a handie-talkie or low-powered mobile has a limited talk-out range, though its receiver can easily receive the more powerful base station transmitter. A practical way to increase this range is to supplement the base station receiver with a satellite receiver located within the range of the handie-talkie. This should .be at the City Yard. The use of multiple receivers helps to assure that no matter where the officer is, the handie-talkie can be re- ceived on at least one of the system receivers. The process of comparing and selecting the best signal when a handie-talkie reaches two or more receivers is known as receiver voting. This process is fully automatic, operates on a continu- ous basis, and is virtually undetectable to the Dispatch Center or to other officers throughout the city. The major components, with estimated costs for the recommended GREEN Channel system enhancement, are listed below. When the equipment is to be purchased, the Communica- tions Division will work closely with your department to assure the most cost effec- tive procurement. A detailed survey of City facilities may indicate some additional savings beyond the costs estimated. Sole source procurement is required for the receiver voting system components to properly retrofit this voting system into the existing Motorola GREEN Channel radio system equipment. It is available from Motorola Communications and Electronics, Inc., 171 South Anita Drive, Suite 201, Orange, California 92668, 978-1100, Attention Harry Cole. Basic Central Station Equipment Motorola T1786 SPECTRA-T~AC Comparator (8-unit) C176 Option (DC Keying Module) C178 Option (Signal Quality Module), TLN-1718, 2 @ $305 Motorola TLN-4890 Wall Mount Kit Motorola TRN-6085 SPECTRA-TAC Encoder (for main base) Satellite Receiver Equipment Motorola C04RTB-3108 SPECTRA-TAC Receiver/Encoder C28 Option (DC Battery Pack) Motorola TLN-4890 Wall Mount Kit Motorola TDE-6042 Antenna (460-470 MHz, 9.2 dB gain) ESTIMATED TOTAL (TAX INCLUDED) Est. Cost $1,235 380 610 6O 95 1,780 28O 60 430 $4,930 Do not hesitate to contact the Communications Division if additional information is required. Sincerely, Don Poorman GDG:ls cc: Frank Semelsberger DATE: November 16, 1981 Inter-Corn FRON: S UBJ ECT: Fred Wakefield. Lt. Frank Semelsberger, Sgt. Communications HISTORY OF THE PROBLEM In the early 1970's when the communications systems were installed for the City of Tustin, it was observed that there:were a few areas which had problems communicating with the ~§ase" station. Most of those areas {at th. at time~ were undeveloped and present, no great problem as mgar~d police service. In the ensuing years as the population has grown and as the business community has expanded, we are finding ourselves faced with a problem which could jeopardize the safety of our police officers and the citizens of the community. Two specific incidents occurred during the afternoon Watch in the last month, which has focused our attention on this potentially hazardous problem. They are as follows: Two officers responded to a family disturbance in the area of Altadena and Pasadena in the southern end of the City. While at the ~esi*dence and while ~rying to determine the type of pro~lem they had the officers were split apart and although they were only on site sides of the same building, they we,re una§le to communicate with each other using the normal green channel established for this city. This incident turned out without any luther problems, but if it had involved a life threatening situation, these officers would have been unable to communicate with each other. Also.within the last 30 days, officers from this Depart~ ment responded to a "Man with a gun~ possible shots fired" call in the area of the Pasadena Village apart~ ment complex. Officers assigned to the area were con, ducting a search while the officers assigned to the call were trying to determine the suspect's description and direction of travel, The officer assigned to the call confirmed that there was a possibility that shots were actually fired and gave a description of the sub~. ject's clothing and direction of travel. Fellow ~fficers, some within 100 yards of the coi,~.unication pointj were unable to read and understand the communication from the officer giving the suspect's description. This incident also did not lead to any further police exposure, but it is centinu~d on Daoe 2 Page two Communications November 16, 1981 easy to see how this. could have turned out in a very tragic way. These incidents are growing more and more commonplace as our City continues to expand and continues to try to provide top quality POlite service. Analysis of the Problem A~ter consulting with the veteran dispatchers and senior officers o:6 the Department a map was drawn of the city boundaries indicating t'he problem areas of green channel Com,~unication. The map {which is attached to this report} indicates the readable but static areas of the city and the totally unreadable areas of the city. Mr. Gary Gray, Communications Engineer for the County of Orange was contacted and a test was set up for October 24th. Utilyzing a base station of the roof of the Administration building at the City Yard and utilyzing both Graveyard and Day Shift patrol officers, a test was conducted at seventeen various points throughout the city, The-test consisted of communicating from pack,et to packset on the White and Green channels and monitoring the clarity of the commun- ication. After Mr. Gray and I completed our test and he inspected some of the equipment at the Maintenance Yard, he agreed to complete an analysis, and recommendations to correct this problem, On November 6 Mr. 8on Poorqnan of Control I and Mr. Gray drafted a communication for Chief Thayer outlining the s~)m of the test information and out- lining the recommendations for aT~vi'ating this serious problem, A copy of that communique has already ~een forwarded to you via Copt, Lowenberg. It appears from reviewing Mr, Poorman~s communique that we can accomplish our goal of correcting th. ts pro§lem-for under Please refer to Mr. Poorman~s communique for the specific requirements and the .equipment necessary to complete this task, Recommendations Recommend that the completed analysi;.s and map be forwarded to Chief Thayer for review and approval, ~ra n k~Se m~eant Operations Di'vi si on FS/mh