Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Ex-chief calls for FDNY radio probe

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2004 22:46:29 -0400

Ex-chief calls for FDNY radio probe 

Former fire captain writes that a formal investigation must be conducted
on $14M Motorola contract

BY WILLIAM MURPHY
STAFF WRITER

July 20, 2004

More than three years after a $14-million radio system for the city's
firefighters failed in the field, no formal investigation of how the
radios were purchased has been conducted.

Now, a just-published book, co-authored by a city Fire Department
captain, says the truth about the purchase of the Motorola XTS-3500
model radios never may be known without a full probe.

Capt. John Joyce, who has been in the department for almost 20 years,
calls for an investigation "that will take testimony from everyone
involved, and ensure that such testimony is taken under oath."

In May 2001, City Comptroller Alan Hevesi said he had found widespread
problems with the city's purchasing methods for the XTS-3500 model
radios and with the radios' performance. The radios were in use for only
one week in March 2001 before they were pulled from service due to
communication failures.

Hevesi forwarded his findings to the city's Department of Investigation
in the summer of 2001, but the attacks on the World Trade Center on
Sept. 11, 2001, derailed much interest in the radios.

In a separate action concerning but not limited to the radios, a lawsuit
filed in May 2001 by a Fire Department ambulance worker has turned up a
document in which a city attorney says DOI never opened a formal
investigation, despite the referral from Hevesi.

"DOI did conduct a preliminary investigation into the radio purchase,
but did not commence any formal investigation," city attorney Eric
Eichenholtz said in a letter dated May 21 that he submitted to a federal
magistrate.

"Accordingly, DOI did not prepare any sort of report or closing
memorandum in regards to the radio purchase," the attorney said in a
legal memo arguing against the release of city records to the city
paramedic who brought the lawsuit.

Paramedic Richard McAllan has sued the Fire Department, claiming it
improperly transferred him and retaliated against him for calling in
April 2001 for then-Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen's resignation
because of the radios and other matters.

The city's letter also asked the federal magistrate not to grant McAllan
access he has sought for other documents to bolster his case.

The Uniformed Fire Officers Association asked Manhattan District
Attorney Robert Morgenthau in July 2002 to submit the matter to a grand
jury. Morgenthau's office declined comment last week.

The XTS-3500s were put back in service in February 2002, on the order of
the new fire commissioner, Nicholas Scoppetta. The department had
reprogrammed the radios and made other alterations, and said they were
in working order.

Joyce's book, "Radio Silence FDNY," lays out the many problems with the
purchase of the Motorola XTS-3500 radios and with their operational
problems at fires and other emergencies before the radios were pulled
from service.

Fire Department spokesman Frank Gribbon said Friday he had not seen the
book and had no comment on it.

In the book, Joyce questions how many of the 343 firefighters who died
on Sept. 11, 2001, might have escaped the World Trade Center if they had
new working radios - instead of the older Saber radios that were
reissued after the XTS-3500s were pulled from service in March 2001.

The book puts the blame for deaths on Sept. 11 squarely on the shoulders
of the terrorists, but adds: "Officials should not be allowed to wrap
themselves in the sanctity of the deaths of New York's Bravest to escape
answering for their conduct."

During the week in March 2001 that the XTS-3500s were in service, there
were several complaints about mechanical problems and a radio plea for
help from one firefighter who had run out of air in a smoky basement
fire in Queens. That firefighter could not be heard by his immediate
colleagues; luckily, he was heard by arriving units that then were
several blocks away, who alerted those on the scene in time to rescue
their colleague.

The Joyce book, co-written with Bill Bowen, a private citizen who lives
in California, depicts a cozy relationship between Motorola and the Fire
Department, but reserves its harshest criticism and most pointed
questions for top officials of the city and the Fire Department.

Among the many unresolved questions raised by the book and/or the Hevesi
audit:

How was a $2.9 million solicitation for replacement of about 750
existing Saber-brand Motorola radios turned into a contract for more
than 3,000 radios, the XTS-3500 model, at a cost of more than $14
million?

Why, if the original request was for replacement radios, did Fire
Commissioner Von Essen later admit to the City Council that the XTS
radios were new equipment, which would have required the department to
consult with fire unions before purchasing them?

If the department meant to buy new radios all along, where is the
documentation that Motorola and the department tested them properly?

Why did the city not force Motorola to disclose the results of earlier
tests it claimed it had conducted on the XTS models with emergency
responders in other jurisdictions?

At the time, Motorola refused, citing the privacy of corporate
"proprietary information." It also refused to divulge the names of other
jurisdictions that had bought the radios, although some had been
identified earlier in corporate press releases.

Why was Motorola mentioned as the only company the Fire Department dealt
with, although city contracting officials said they had contracts with
175 potential suppliers? The city has never identified those suppliers.

Joyce and Bowen dedicated the book to the firefighters who died at the
World Trade Center.

"If they could be heard, the voices of the fallen firefighters call for
this investigation from their communal grave where once the Twin Towers
stood," they write. 

Copyright (c) 2004, Newsday, Inc. 

--------------------

This article originally appeared at:
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/nyc-nyrad203900136jul20,0,1738536.story?coll=ny-nynews-headlines 

Visit Newsday online at http://www.newsday.com

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From: "August" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2004 08:57:51 -0000

Very interesting.

--- In [email-masked], Marcelrf@B... wrote:
> http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/nyc-
nyrad203900136jul20,0,1738536.story?coll=ny-nynews-headlines 

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