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MORRISVILLE Morrisville officials had hoped new equipment on nearby Lower Makefield's radio tower would help eliminate gaps in police radio transmissions on the digital radio system installed by the county a year ago. By ELIZABETH FISHER Morrisville officials had hoped new equipment on nearby Lower Makefield's
radio tower would help eliminate gaps in police radio transmissions on the
digital radio system installed by the county a year ago.
That hasn't happened.
Recent tests showed Morrisville police still have problems in some areas of
the borough and within certain buildings, including the police station.
The borough council, the police chief and the borough code enforcement
officer say they believe the only solution is to install an antenna on the
50-foot radio tower outside the municipal building on Union Street.
"We've needed an antenna in this borough. We've asked for one from the
start," borough code enforcement officer Robert Seward said. "We had
hoped the upgrade [to digital] service would help, but now it's not even what we
had with the old analog system."
The borough emergency services system experienced disrupted or blocked
transmissions with the old analog system, too.
On Wednesday, Morrisville Police Chief Victor Cicero and several officers
conducted radio tests from a bank, a grocery store, two apartment complexes,
district court and the municipal building.
The results were frustrating, Cicero said. Transmissions between police and
the county were clear from the Giant supermarket in the Village Crossing
Shopping Center, district court on Cleveland Avenue, Morrisville High School on
West Palmer Avenue and the borough water plant at Ferry and River roads.
Communications from Colonial Gardens apartments on Plaza Boulevard were
garbled. And no transmissions could be heard from First Union Bank on Bridge
Street, Towpath House Apartments on Delmorr Avenue and the Morrisville police
station.
"In the department, the officers can hear the county, but the county
can't hear them," Cicero said.
The chief said he fears an officer will be trapped in a life-threatening
situation and not be able to call for help.
In September, an officer radioed for assistance from a Morrisville home and
no one heard him. The officer had to use the residential telephone to dial 911
for help, Cicero said.
At its agenda meeting Tuesday night, council asked borough manager George
Mount to write a letter to the county asking it to investigate the problem
again.
County leaders are aware of the problem and willing to work with the borough
to find a solution, county spokesman Ron Watson said.
Watson said the training to use the radios for officer-assist calls could be
the problem.
"We are aware of some scattered problems. We know of one or two
instances in Morrisville Borough where the radios didn't work in basements of
some buildings," Watson said. "The problem is not with the radio
system, but the law of physics."
Repeated calls over several days to Buck County Director of Communications
Brent Wiggins were not returned.
Monday, January 15, 2001 |
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Contents © 2008 by David Schoenberger |