WESTSIDE -- Local police and fire departments made the switch to new digital radios on Jan. 17 when Benton County Central Communications switched to the Arkansas Wireless Information Network known as AWIN.
Gentry fire chief Vester Cripps said the change to the new digital radios would, after numerous past delays, finally go live on Jan. 17.
AWIN is the system used by the Arkansas State Police, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, and by many other law enforcement agencies and fire departments across the state. It is a digital radio system operating on a different frequency band rather than the analog system that was in use across the county and will allow users to communicate with other users on the system around the state.
The system uses encryption, meaning that it will not be possible for the general public to listen in to police and fire calls as they could do under the analog system, adding an improved level of safety for police officers and other emergency workers responding to calls.
The system was to go online last September but was delayed until this month to allow time to work out technical issues and to allow all the departments making the switch to have their radios ready.
The new system was to cost the county $3.75 million. The county used $1.75 million from reserve and borrowed $2 million to pay for the project.
It improves safety for deputies or officers in the field, explained Kenneth Paul, operations major for the Sheriff's Office. The radios can be found by GPS positioning, showing the location of the officer. That will be useful in search-and-rescue situations, so agencies can keep track of where their officers are. The tracking feature will also be useful if something were to happen to an officer and he was unable to respond to dispatchers.
"It's going to allow for better coverage," said Robert McGowan, Benton County public safety director. "One of the main things it resolves is that there are areas where they can't get out on the radio because of the current system. That will be fixed with this system."
Paul said the new radio system will have up to 90% coverage using the portable radios while the units in vehicles will have 99.99% coverage.
"We had places in the county, especially in eastern Benton County, where we had no coverage at all," Paul said of the old system. "When you were leaving town and going into those areas, you called dispatch and let them know you were going to be off the air."
According to a previous article in the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the Sheriff's Office purchased 601 portable radios and 356 mobile radios for vehicles. The county also purchased 175 digital pagers, which cost $121,625, for the volunteer fire departments, Paul said.
Motorola was installing the system and it was to be linked to seven towers in the county: one each in Bella Vista, Garfield, Highfill, Gravette and Siloam Springs, and two in Rogers.
Police departments dispatched by the county's Central Communication purchased their own radios, Paul said.
Last April, the Gentry City Council approved a resolution authorizing the city to purchase new emergency radios for its police and fire departments from Smith Two-Way Radio at a cost not to exceed $70,000. Other local municipalities had to make similar expenditures for the new radios so that they could continue to be dispatched through Benton County Central Communications.
Police departments in Rogers, Fayetteville and Springdale have already been using the wireless network, Paul said. Washington County is installing the system, he said. The police departments in Bentonville and Rogers use different digital communication systems, but Paul said they will still be able to communicate with the departments.
Paul said the Sheriff's Office has been using the old radio system for more than 20 years.
McGowan said the console, which is the computer running the radio system for dispatch, was being updated. The console will work in tandem with the radio system, he said.
Voters in Washington County approved a temporary 0.25% sales tax for one year last March to pay for a new emergency communications system.
Tracy Neal contributed to this article.