BLOOMFIELD, NJ -- The
entire Bloomfield Police and Fire Departments, and emergency medical services
are now equipped with state of the art radios and a system interface that can
hold up in the event of an unexpected radio blackout.
These system upgrades, to what is
known as a 7/800 mhz digital trunking system, cost approximately $2.8 million dollars,
which was paid for with the Township of Bloomfield’s capital budget. Individuals on these radios, and in Fire and Police
Headquarters, can access more frequencies to communicate with partnering law
enforcement and EMS agencies. Localities that do not have the latest radio
frequencies will be able to hear, but not transmit back, to units on the
system.
“This is a sizable investment from
our capital budget, but one which simply had to be made to bring our police,
fire and EMS response systems up to the very best standards, anywhere. Now, we
know that these departments will be able to communicate effectively to save
lives, even if the unexpected happens,” said Mayor Michael Venezia.
“This equipment will also help during more standard emergency situations, like
when our officers are working with the Essex County Sheriff’s Office, or our
firefighters are working with other local departments and ambulances.”
“These state-of-the-art Apex 8000
radios are nearly impossible to hack into. They are secure and will allow us to
communicate with other law enforcement, EMS and government agencies on assigned
wavelengths when collaborating on cases, or even in the event of a natural
disaster, or mass terrorist attack,” said Director of Public Safety Samuel
DeMaio. “Hurricane Sandy was a wake up call for a lot of police and fire
departments. We had trouble communicating with one another, so we couldn’t
optimize our use of services. Now, with state of the art radios, we will be
able to hear and be heard by all surrounding partner organizations.”
“These new radios have far superior
coverage to older models and systems commonly used. Whenever entering a burning
building, there is a chance of losing communications ability with the units
inside or outside, but with this upgraded system, we can eliminate these
concerns,” said Fire Chief Louis Venezia. “Interoperability is the most
important thing in the post 9/11 world. In the event of a disaster, all Fire,
Police, and EMS responders with systems like ours in Bloomfield can communicate
on secure channels.”
