WESTERN NEW YORK
Statewide wireless emergency network passes key test in two counties
By Tom Precious
- NEWS ALBANY BUREAU
Updated: 05/09/08 6:33 AM
ALBANY — A statewide emergency radio system being first tested in Western New York has passed a key evaluation, just months after an embarrassing first round of tests showed the system failed to work in large sections of Buffalo.
The $2 billion program capable of linking all state and local emergency agencies into a single radio network was shown to have covered more than 98 percent of Erie and Chautauqua counties in a recent test, executives of the company awarded the state contract said Thursday.
Still unclear, though, is how many local police, fire and other agencies will even opt into the system, which is designed to deal with the communication failures that have haunted everything from the 9/11 emergency response to the 2006 manhunt for fugitive Ralph Philips.
A state agency overseeing the new system confirmed the results reported Thursday by M/A-COM, a division of Tyco Electronics, which included more than 100,000 testing points — strung out every 100 meters — across Erie and Chautauqua counties. How the system tests in the two counties will determine whether it expands to other areas of the state.
Rob Roddy, a spokesman for the state Office for Technology, said the latest round of tests improved the performance of the wireless network. He said further tests are still being done. The recent round of testing in the two counties involved more than 40 state and local agencies. Another round is expected in June, when testers will determine whether its effectiveness is diminished by leaves on trees.
Backers say the statewide wireless network will permit various levels of governments, currently operating their own radio frequencies, to communicate with one another. It would, for instance, make it simpler for a police agency in Erie County to talk to someone in the field in New York City. Its promoters say it will also dramatically improve radio quality that now can be interrupted by terrain or buildings.
But not all governments are sold on it.
In Erie County, after the last round of tests that showed large areas of Buffalo without service, officials are holding tight for now. Peter Cutler, a spokesman for Buffalo Mayor Byron
W. Brown, said the fire commissioner late last year recommended against the new system.
John Vaughn, senior vice president and general manager of M/A-COM, said the first Erie County test did not work because the company was unable to get access to a key area to place its equipment on a tower. That has since been resolved, he said Thursday.
The company relied on 36 large towers and smaller systems across Erie and Chautauqua counties.
The state is demanding as part of the 20-year contract with M/A-COM that 97 percent of New York be covered by the wireless network. The latest test showed 98.4 percent of the area covered, Vaughan said.
Chautauqua County Sheriff Joseph Gerace, in a letter to the State Sheriffs Association, praised the new system.
