On the same (radio) page

By BRIAN WALKER

Staff Writer

POST FALLS — Post Falls Police is planning on a $1.7 million radio system overhaul.

The City Council recently approved the purchase that will be paid for with existing funds from the city.

"It is needed as we are limited with our current system and are not able to encrypt our current radios," PFPD Chief Pat Knight said. "The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office and the Coeur d’Alene Police Department encrypted their radios in July. We currently do not scan any of their radio traffic, which causes a major officer safety issue."

When an agency encrypts its radios it means that nobody else can hear the radio traffic except those with other radios that have the encryption capabilities.

"Nobody in scanner land can hear you anymore," Knight said. "Today the general public can still hear our radio traffic."

More agencies are moving toward radios with encryption capabilities to improve officer safety, Knight said.

"Our officers currently can’t hear what the sheriff’s office or Coeur d'Alene are doing, chasing or looking for," he said, adding that the agencies often back each other up. "They have already encrypted their radios and we have not."

Post Falls is solely sourcing the radio upgrade with Motorola Solutions, which build the department's current system 23 years ago and has maintained it ever since.

Motorola is the only certified manufacturer to provide the desired upgrade and maintenance, Knight said.

PFPD has 72 portable radios and 53 mobile radios.

"Our current radio system was end of life in 2010 and will no longer be supported at the end of this year," Knight wrote in a memo to the council. "Locating replacement parts has become increasingly difficult and the manufacturer no longer supports the system."