Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Towers jamming police radios Cellular interference could place officers responding to 911 calls at risk, agencies say.

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 13:26:59 -0400

Towers jamming police radios Cellular interference could place officers responding
to 911 calls at risk, agencies say.
By Tom Spalding
[email-masked]
August 30, 2003

So-called "dead spots" caused by cell-tower interference have left police officers
near Broad Ripple and on the Westside occasionally unable to communicate by radio.

The problems have placed Marion County squarely into an ongoing national debate
about how to fix dispatch blackouts.

Unless a permanent solution is found, "it's going to do nothing but get worse,"
said Linn Piper, director of the Metropolitan Emergency Communications Agency,
whose staff links 911 calls to responding police, firefighters and paramedics.
"They hit their radios, and they can't connect to the system -- or the heavy
static makes it hard to hear transmissions."
All county agencies rely on a 13-year-old, 25-channel radio system that operates
in the 800-MHz frequency -- the same frequency as at least one commercial wireless
carrier, Nextel.

IPD officers have had the most problems because their patrols take them closest to
the towers where Nextel signals are broadcast. The biggest problems: by the Monon
Trail near Broad Ripple and on High School Road between 34th and 38th streets.

The dead spots happen because the commercial wireless towers emit a noise that
IPD's radios fail to filter out when they are one block to one-quarter mile from
the towers. The same kinds of problems have been happening nationwide as cell
phones have become more popular.

"It's been a real problem that has been festering for far too long," said IPD
North District Sgt. Roger Tuchek.
No one has been seriously hurt because of the problem, but officers and others are
concerned.
"Sometimes the radio will just go dead there -- you can't hear a word that's said,
and the control operator can't even hear you," said Lt. Don Bender of IPD's West
District.

He said officers in the district patrol a high-traffic area next to exit and entry
ramps on I-465. "Anytime we lose radio, we're in danger," he said.  It's an
important issue to resolve for people such as Jerome Payton, manager of the Family
Dollar Store at 3650 N. High School Road. The store has been the victim recently
of a "snatch-and-run" thief.

The thief waits in line with other customers, buys a candy bar or other
inexpensive item, and then reaches over the counter and steals cash out of the
open register. Payton says he relies on police responding quickly in an
emergency.  Indianapolis firefighters and Marion County sheriff's deputies haven't
reported similar problems, according to spokesmen for both agencies.  Sheriff's
Lt. Phil Burton said there are many areas of the county where deputies experience
radio dead spots. But they typically are caused by factors like buildings that
erode signal strength.

A public safety coalition has estimated that interference is a problem in at least
27 states. Dozens of agencies, including some from New York City and Denver, have
issued complaints.

Because the problem is national and involves numerous commercial wireless
carriers, several proposals are being considered by the Federal Communications
Commission.

FCC Chairman Michael Powell said during a speech in Indianapolis on Aug. 11 that
solving the problem is "one of my top priorities to ensure that public safety has
the reliable spectrum resources it needs to do its life-saving work." But there's
debate about the best fix. One idea: a multimillion dollar, widespread realignment
of towers or frequencies in the United States. Others support what they call
"site-by-site" mitigation.

"If there's interference at 'Site A,' fix it at 'Site A' instead of spending
millions and millions to reshuffle police, fire and ambulance dispatchers and
cell-phone companies," argues Travis Larson, a Washington, D.C.-based spokesman
for the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association. It represents the
nation's major cellular providers.

Nextel admits its towers in Marion County have caused interference. But
spokeswoman Leigh Horner said the company can't isolate specific locations.  In
the past few months, the metropolitan communications agency has spent $600,000 to
replace 150 of the more than 6,000 radios in the system.  The agency has tried to
make officers in geographic areas where the blackout problems occur a priority for
the new radios, which cost $3,800 each. The new radios have a receiver able to
partly filter out competing commercial frequencies.  But that doesn't solve the
big problem.

"No one wants this to happen -- not a public safety organization, and not a
wireless carrier," Horner said.
Call Star reporter Tom Spalding at 1-317-327-7939.

http://www.indystar.com/print/articles/6/070013-8136-009.html

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