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Next Step Taken In Police Communications Upgrade
By Catherine Galioto
A new communications tower is on the horizon for Brick Township, part of a three-phase project to improve emergency systems.
Phase One relates to the township police's dispatch system technology. The township will spend $800,000 to update its 15-year-old system, which is no longer being maintained by the provider, according to Business Administrator Scott Pezarras. The township will not be required to get a new computer software system.
Phases Two and Three are the installation of the new communications tower, to be located at the municipal plaza, and uplink of new antenna for the police, emergency management and department of public works' systems.
The township council will vote on funding for the two last phases at its council meeting next week, voting to approve a $117,560 contract with to pay Procomm Systems, Inc., of Phillipsburg.
The new tower will help get rid of "dead spots" in the township. Officials say there is bad reception in places such as the barrier island and the Northwest part of town, which sits in a tricky elevation spot that hampers signals reaching there, Pezarras said. Township officials have had to switch to handheld communications to send messages in the dead spots. After the erection of the tower, those problems should no longer exist, he said.
In addition, the communications system is currently analog. The upgrade will give the township digital technology, he said.
Unix-based systems run the dispatch now. The township will spend $800,000 to find and test a replacement system to put in place by 2009, plus the money for the tower.
Councilman Anthony Matthews wondered if renting tower space to outside companies could help defray the cost. However, the company on the older tower, Motorola, advised against it. With three antenna planned for the new tower, Pezarras said it would not a good idea to rent out additional space.
Pezarras said he doesn't have a date yet when the construction will begin, but he doesn't expect a break in services. Instead, the new and old systems might be operating concurrently while the kinks of the new one are ironed out.
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