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Information #1 10-17-2005 ''y Police Department 13077 Orono Parkway Elk River, MN 55330 Jeffrey A. Beaben Chief of Police Robert F. Kluntz Administrative Captain Bradley R. Rolfe Patrol Captain Thomas 1Yler investigative Sergeant Jeffrey Mordal Ron Nierenhausen David Dummer Daniel Blot:k Patrol Sergeants Mit:helle Masica Support Phone: 763.635.1260 Fax: 763.635.]250 www.ci.elk-river.mn.us October 5, 2005 Sheriff Bruce Anderson Sherburne County Sheriff's Department 13880 Highway 10 Elk River, Minnesota 55330 Sheriff Anderson, I wanted to offer a chance to thank you for your time in listening to myself and the other Chiefs last Thursday concerning communication issues and our desire to address the needs of countywide law enforcement as a team. I know we discussed a great deal of information, so I thought it best to formalize the discussion for better reference in the future. The items we discussed were as follows: A) Commuter rail communication concerns. Commuter rail will begin operation from the Metro area to Big Lake in 2007, with fare riders being on the tail in 2008. The Northstar Line has a Fire/Life Safety Committee which has started to meet concerning the facilitation of the interchange of information. One of the ftrst issues discussed was the requirement to have all agencies on the rail line where the commuter line is to operate on 800 MHz. This is to facilitate the inter-operable communication between Transit Police, Rail Authority, and local law enforcement and fIre. B) Northstar Corridor is currently planning to provide emergency call services and call box response assignments from the Metro Transit dispatch center in Eden Prairie. This is agreeable to Minneapolis Police and Fire, Hennepin and Anoka Counties. C) The City of Elk River is currently reaching ftnal agreement with Nextel to install a 150 foot free standing tower adjacent to the Police Department. This agreement will allow the City to later install secondary communication equipment (i.e. 800 MHz on the tower at no charge to local government). D) Elk River PD currently has six 800 MHz handheld radios which were programmed by Anoka County for MTAC and PTAC channels in the north Anoka County area, as well as Metro channels for large scale events. We are willing to budget for more radios as needed and can set aside other funding if required for 800 MHz infrastrUcture, but the City needs a long range plan to operate off of for fIscal and hudget reasons. E) Area Chiefs and their respective communities would appreciate an opportunity to participate in 800 MHz discussions with the County, and to incorporate a committee approach to this very important area of future communication. Some agencies have been unhappy with their initial 800 MHz transitions, but by and large, it is the interoperable radio system required by Homeland Security and endorsed by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. Page 2 F) Elk River is encouraging Sherburne County to evaluate their current mobile computer communication link. The system used is a radio modem link with a Baud rate of 9600. Elk River, for example, uses a CDMA cellular connection, which has a much cheaper modem, is very easy to operate and has increased communication speed almost 60 times faster than radio modems, conduit size and advanced encryption, and fire walling built in. The radio modems offer very little in terms of future enhancements and, in fact, are outdated technology. Most agencies have migrated to a faster more reliable form of communication. . Adapting a new infrastructure would allow Elk River to receive calls for service via their squad computers. The Baud rate of the current infrastructure prohibits Elk River from connecting to the county system. G) Elk River has a need for the dispatch staff to have the ability to get to the Internet, so they utilize "SafetyNet," a web based program that sends out multiple messages to many users on a variety of devices. For example, using this program, a dispatcher could send out an EOC activation page to all EOC staff in Elk River. In my case, I would receive this activation page via my Nextel phone in the form of a text message; on my pager as a text message; and to my e-mail as a text message. TIlls redundancy is designed to insure that priority messages reach the intended user utilizing multiple means of communication. In cases of major events, it will help insure that all staff are notified. It also allows a two-way communication feature so the sender(s) can receive confIrmation that the message was received and acknowledged. All of these above items are of extreme importance to the law enforcement agencies within Sherburne County. The comments made are not intended to reflect negatively on the Sheriff's Office, but instead are meant to encourage a sense of inter-agency cooperation in regards to the functionality and operation of the communication system that services all of our departments. I believe that the majority of the decisions made to date regarding radio and communication technology have been made primarily by the Sheriff's OffIce. This has been effective and appreciated, but I would advocate that during these constant times of change, that all departments be represented in future processes so that we can stay abreast of changes and implementation concerns. I would be happy to discuss these issues with you or any of your staff, and I personally look forward to working with your agency to better prepare our agencies for their future communication needs. Sincerely, cc: Pat Klaers Mayor and City Council