The new public safety radio system is up and running, and will be getting another planned upgrade to make it fully capable to serve those serving the community in law enforcement, as firefighters, paramedics and even connect to other radio systems without any technical problems.

Dispatchers working in the 911 Operations Center at the Polk County Emergency Management Agency are being honored this week during National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, and with the new equipment at their disposal their jobs just got slightly easier thanks to the upgrades now in place.

The new system officially was switched on late in March, but has been running smoothly since then and provides nearly 100% coverage of every inch of Polk County with a radio signal that will reach police officers, firefighters, paramedics and other emergency personnel that are working in the field.

The P-25 mission critical public safety communications system was originally set to go live in 2021, and will after the completion of a fifth tower to add to the system’s coverage area and bring the final total to slightly over $8 million for the upgrade when all is said and done.

The fifth tower being built in the Rocky Hollow area – where it was originally planned – is finally approved after land acquisition at the April 2022 regular session was give the yea votes by the County Commission.

Commissioner Ray Carter, who has been spearheading the project on behalf of the board, said all of the partners have come together – including the cities and local emergency personnel – to work together on the upgrade. The cities of Cedartown, Rockmart, Aragon and the Polk School District all had to contribute small amounts to purchase new radios to work with the P-25 system.

Radios used by officers in the field – the walkie talkie microphones you see on tactical vests – were traded in and new ones have been distributed, with the turnover on vehicle radio communications still not fully complete.

The county was far along enough in the process with the new system to turn it on and begin live operations with it on March 29, and so far no problems have occurred.

Commissioners voted to approve the go-ahead on the new radio tower after an executive session to wrap up the meeting.

Carter said the new radio tower will take between four to six months to complete from the time the order goes in, to the time it is fully constructed on site.

He added that the county’s new tower will complete the coverage area as close to 100% with the digital radio system for public safety communications.

The upgrade from the old system – not really designed for what it was being used for – added two more radio towers up to this point, upgrades to the equipment, tie-ins to a regional communications network into Cobb County as part of the P-25 system’s interoperability with other networks, and upgrades to all of the handheld and vehicle radios.

The upgrade to the P-25 system puts Polk County in a good position to handle future upgrades without having to spend as much, since new towers came along with the spending. The towers themselves provide a platform for future radio system upgrades without having to spend a greater amount on property and the additional equipment.

Polk County’s contract with Motorola did come with warranty and repair agreements as well, which adds life to the system before requiring another costly upgrade in just a few years time to go along with technological improvements updating almost daily.

The project started in 2020 will conclude with the construction of the fifth tower before year’s end. Carter reported the goal is to get it done as soon as possible, but likely the materials and equipment needed for construction will have a longer than expected turnaround time due to supply chain issues still impacting manufacturers.