The Rock Island Police Department is getting a new emergency communication system that will mean faster and more efficient communication between the local agencies.
On the current 40-year-old system, if police are pursuing a suspect who crosses the river, communication between the two agencies is a logistical nightmare.
"What happens right now is that the dispatchers are talking to each other on the telephone and they're relaying what's happening from another agency," explains Rock Island Police Chief Jeff VenHuizen. "So a dispatcher from another agency is informing our dispatcher over the phone what's occurring, and she in turn is relaying it to our officers on the street. By the time [the officers] get that information, the scenario has changed. That pursuit may no longer be where it was at, it may be ten blocks away."
Rock Island Police will replace the 40-year-old UHF/VHF analog system with a new 800 MHz trunk radio system, that will make communication seamless between the area departments. All the new equipment cost $1.35 million, according to Chief VenHuizen.
VenHuizen said the infrastructure for the new system is already in place and many other agencies have already made the switch.
It ties into the new fleet of police vehicles Rock Island will get in 2015, as well as the new police facility and communications center being built for 2016.
The Rock Island Fire Department will also get the new communications system, which will be ready by the end of this year.