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Gordon Henderson
But the situation also provided another real-world test of the new countywide communications system, which came online in January.
While at the Rome Public Safety Committee meeting Tuesday morning, Rome-Floyd Fire Chief Gordon Henderson said they had some issues with the new system’s radios while responding to the influx of calls.
“The radios are supposed to be waterproof,” Henderson said. “But they did get wet and didn’t tend to work at all.”
Troy Brock, who was recently promoted to deputy chief, said there was a problem hearing calls on radios when they were wet.
Henderson said that while the rain caused a bit of a problem, the way some of the departments use them is an issue as well.
“We’re going to have to do some in-house training on them,” Henderson said. “In a storm like we had last night, we were still using them like we did the old system and it’s not set up like that.”
He said for the most part the $26.7 million system has worked as advertised with better inter-agency communication but there are “still a few bugs” to be worked out.
Henderson said they would be talking to Harris Communications, the company that designed the new system and manufactured the radios.
In other business, Rome Police Chief Elaine Snow filled in the committee on the new identification devices.
They were recently purchased with a $21,350 homeland security grant on behalf of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency.
The mobile fingerprint scanners will allow officers on patrol to obtain a person’s identification information, including outstanding warrants, by getting a fingerprint and transmitting it through an in-car Mobile Data Terminal.
Snow said they have to come up with a policy on how to use the new technology and train officers before it can be put to use.
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Of course, you would have to be able to read above an 8th grade level which could be a challenge.
There has to be at least one person in the Floyd County or Rome City government that could sit down, read the manual, and make up an easy to understand booklet for all of the department heads so they might come up with way to use their new toys properly.
There are numerous "dead" areas in the county where you can neither hear nor be heard. To top it all off, just as was stated in the article, this "cutting edge" technology is really being used exactly as the old system was. It hasn't done a single thing to enhance communications whatsoever.
Maybe we need to be suspicious of the old apples that seed to only look for the bad and embellish the negative. I know that they are heroes to our community and have given years of selfless service to our community. I do not question their integrity and value. But I do worry about officers that resist technology and function that is intended to protect their lives and the lives of the everyday citizen.
It is important that the technology of today become the power tools of those protecting and serving our community. May God and the people of Floyd County and the city of Rome bless these great men and women.
They could have bought satellite phones and paid the monthly charge for way less than the new radio system yearly maintenance cost and saved the 26 million.