Multi-million dollar police communications upgrade proceeding

Sarnia police are hopeful that a roughly $7-million project to upgrade their radio communications systems will be complete by year's end.

The project includes:

• Four new communication towers, and significant repairs made to one old tower
• Upgrades to the communications capabilities of the 911 Backup Site
• New hand-held equipment, including mobile and portable radios, dispatch consoles and transmitter and receiver devices
• Replacement of redundant unreliable leased telephone lines with a microwave infrastructure to form the backbone of the entire system

Police Chief Norm Hansen said they're moving ahead with the next phase of the project.

"Well everything is approved and we've started the project. They haven't broken ground yet, but it's going ahead and we're hoping for a fall completion," said Hansen. "Hopefully by the end of this year we'll be up and running with our new radio project."

Chief Hansen said the need for an upgrade was formally identified in 2012 with the system experiencing intermittent interruptions from the unreliable copper wire connections throughout the city.

Hansen also said replacement parts for the current system would no longer be guaranteed available following an "End of Support Date" with Motorola.

In March, Sarnia Police Services Board approved three lease agreements for tower space on:

• Drewlo Holdings lnc. premises
• Government of Canada property
• Lambton College-owned premises

The former Sarnia City Council approved a $4.5 million communications system upgrade project and a request for additional funding of $2.5 million in 2017.