The missed communications sparked by the Indianola police department’s purchase of and changeover to a new digital radio system for use by its officers are about to be squelched after the county voted on Tuesday to purchase a new radio that will allow the sheriff’s department to hear the city’s transmissions.
Sheriff James Haywood had expressed some concern about the switch citing the inability to now monitor city police radio transmissions, because the digital system does not allow IPD communications to be heard without a special digital receiver.
As principal law enforcement officer for the county, “It’s imperative that we be able to monitor them,” Haywood said.
“This is the county seat, the sheriff’s department needs to be able to communicate with the police department in the county seat,” Board President Glenn Donald said.
Previously, city and county law enforcement were using the same brand of radios and the sheriff’s office had even supplied the municipality with the communication devices through a grant.
Chief Edrick Hall said afterwards that the radios did not work well for his officers when they were inside of buildings and through research he found out that the radios were designed for and work best in open environments, which is why they went digital.
Hall said the decision to go digital was not meant in any way to cause any law enforcement agencies to not be able to hear their transmissions.
“It was 110 percent for the safety of my officers,” he said.
Hall said criminals were also monitoring the department’s transmissions and it was undermining the safety of his men. He recalled one instance when a person they were pursuing went live on Facebook with their audio feed while they were chasing him and knew all their courses of action before they could make them.
Not only that, Hall said non-law enforcement persons with scanners were showing up at the locations and in some cases compromising the crime scene and their investigation, trying to take photos that were getting back to family members and others prematurely.
He said the change was strictly to protect the integrity of the cases and his officers. The new radios have been in use for several weeks.
The purchase of the county’s radio was not on the agenda but a question from Haywood to E-911 Director John Thompson, during his monthly report, about the progress being made in the purchasing of the receiver, evoked questions and a discussion by the county lawmakers.
“We can’t monitor IPD like we use to on our radio,” Thompson said.
As communications officer for the county, Thompson described what he believed would have to take place to ensure physical connection compatibility since the city’s system is digital and a different brand than is currently in use by the sheriff’s office. He expressed concern that the cost involved to make the connections would be high and may require running new cables from the top of the antenna.
Thompson then deferred to Attorney Jimmy Sherman, who has some knowledge of radio equipment and the new system since Hall had spoken about it during a Lion’s Club session. Sherman assured them that the county’s existing cables and antenna would support the new radio because the rear connectors are the same and the radio should not be very expensive.
Haywood said he needs to have a radio in place to communicate with the police department because communication is very important in case of emergencies.
He recalled a recent incident where he was approached and asked why none of his deputies showed up to support IPD at a crime scene inside city limits, and it was because they were not aware of the call. “We can’t communicate with them and we need to solve that problem,” he said, “We have got to have communications.”
Hall said in emergency situations he has always communicated with the sheriff directly, but he is grateful and happy that the county is getting the receiver and he hopes that he and Haywood will be able to establish communications to the standard that the sheriff likes.
“It was not done to stop anybody (law enforcement) from listening, it was solely for the protection of my officers,” said Hall.
