By Mike Blasky
AND Brian
Haynes LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
It was a multimillion-dollar mistake. And the timing
couldn't be worse.
After two years of battling dropped calls and dead
zones in the department's new radio system, Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie
has opted to drop Desert Sky.
On Oct. 11, Gillespie informed the CEO of the Harris
Corp. that his company's Desert Sky radio system cannot meet his department's
needs. That's a sharp change from past statements and advice to officers to
remain patient while system bugs are fixed.
"I believe we've given Harris every opportunity to
make the system work," Gillespie said. "It's just not a reliable
system."
Unveiled in the summer of 2010, the $42 million Desert
Sky digital system - based on Harris' OpenSky system marketed to emergency
service agencies nationwide - was touted as having expanded channel capacities,
enabling advanced data communications for computers in patrol cars and other
features unavailable with the agency's aging analog system.
Desert Sky's data capabilities have seen mixed
results, but the voice communication between officers is the bigger problem.
While improved in the past two years, the system still is not up to snuff for an
agency whose officers talk on the radio 50,000 times every day, the sheriff
said.
"OpenSky cannot meet that demand," Gillespie
said.
Complaints are common among patrol cops, who say the
faulty system endangers their lives.
"It's honestly going to get an officer hurt," said one
patrol officer who asked not to be identified. "It's just a matter of time.
We're worried about getting into a situation where we need help and no one can
hear us."
LAWSUIT POSSIBLE
The decision to dump Desert Sky comes in the midst of
the Metropolitan Police Department's worst budget crisis ever. The county wide
agency's projected budget of $502 million for fiscal year 2013-14 is $46 million
more than projected revenues.
Police officials say hiring a vendor to build a
replacement voice transmission system could cost $15 million to $20 million, and
take 16 to 24 months.
Assistant Sheriff Joseph Lombardo, who oversees the
Las Vegas police Radio Systems Bureau, acknowledged the project could "require
additional funds" at a time when the department is counting every
penny.
"We're in discussions with Harris for a solution,"
Lombardo said. "It depends if they can meet our terms or not. If we come to
impasse, we could explore other vendors."
The relationship between Harris and the department is
not dead, however. The department will retain Desert Sky for data transmission,
but needs a new system to handle day-to-day voice communication.
Harris might even be the company entrusted with that
job. While it struck out with Desert Sky, Harris could build the infrastructure
for the state-of-the art Project 25 - or P25 - radio system that has become the
new federal standard for public safety agencies. P25 has proven to be effective
in major urban settings, whereas OpenSky has not.
Gillespie wouldn't comment on companies that might
build the new system, but said a decision would be made within 30 days. The
potential cost is "under discussion," he said, as is the source of the
money.
If Harris won't build a new voice system at no
additional cost, the department would likely hire another vendor - Motorola is a
primary competitor of Harris - and cover that bill by suing Harris for failing
to build Desert Sky to contract specifications.
A Harris spokesperson did not return a call seeking
comment Friday. The status of discussions between the department and Harris was
unclear.
"Our desire is to not spend another dime on (Desert
Sky). We're still pursuing that direction," Lombardo said. "There's still a lot
of negotiation questions that have not been answered yet."
'IT'S BEEN A FAILURE, A
JOKE'
The department began looking at updating its radio
system around 2003, as its analog system was nearing maximum capacity and the
agency was expanding along with Southern Nevada's population.
The department contracted with M/A-COM Technology
Solutions Inc. to design and build its new system, OpenSky. Harris Corp., a
Florida-based corporation billed as the leading supplier of radios to the U.S.
military, acquired M/A-COM in 2009.
Many other public safety agencies around
the country bought OpenSky, and many have been left disappointed with systems
dogged by performance and reliability problems.
In early 2009, the state of New York cited
technology problems when it terminated a $2 billion contract with M/A-COM to
build a statewide communications system.
Lancaster County, Pa., dumped its OpenSky
contract in 2008 after spending about 11 years and $14 million on the
project.
"It was the cutting edge of a technology," Lombardo
said. "It hasn't been a resounding success."
Patrol officers don't mince their words when it comes
to the technology.
"It's been a failure. A joke," said the patrol officer
who asked for anonymity.
The officer told of a police shooting last year where
the officers were caught in a dead zone and unable to radio for help.
"(The officers) tried like hell," he said.
In addition to dead zones and dropped calls, officers
are also struggling to adapt to the new emergency button.
The radios have an emergency button that will override
other radio traffic, but it hasn't always worked right and requires cops to
learn when and how to use it.
"When you're in a situation and your adrenaline's
flowing and you've got tunnel vision, everything you do is muscle memory. And
officers weren't trained to use the emergency button," he said. "Some of us have
gotten better, but it's not perfect."
Lombardo said officer safety is the department's top
priority.
"That's why we're pursuing all our options, because
that's as big a concern to us as it is to the police officers," he said. "The
technology just hasn't gotten us to where we need to be, Harris has been
assuring us they can get us there. But a lot of time has gone
by."
From Dave Zantow, N9EWO:
This is the same radio system that Milwaukee WI has been struggling with
for years. So the plan for Las Vegas is to now switch to P25 (from Open Sky) and MANY
more taxpayer $$’s.
