COURTESY OF RIVERSIDE POLICE DEPARTMENT
Riverside, Lyons, McCook, Stickney, North Riverside, and Forest View Police Departments moved to a new radio frequency on Monday November 4. The Brookfield Zoo Police Department will also transaction to the frequency so that they can have immediate contact with area police departments.
The current, antiquated Net-West radio frequency can no longer be properly maintained by AT&T. The departments will move to an 800 MHz Trunking system provided by Cook County.
Communications Supervisor Sergeant Bill Gutschick said, “It’s a tested, proven system- far more reliable than what we currently use and has been in operation in most major cities and counties for many years”.
There was a minor cost in moving to this frequency, but the vast majority was funded by a grant provided by ILEAS (Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System) through Cook County.
“This 800 Trunking radio frequency is state of art equipment and will take Riverside well into the future. The infrastructure of radio repeaters, specialized equipment, and fiber optics have already been installed throughout the county”, said Sgt. Gutschick.
Chief Weitzel wanted to thank Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart for allowing the municipalities on the Net-West Radio frequency to move to this new radio platform.
“The cost to purchase the radios, run fiber, cables and put in infrastructure would have cost Riverside $200,000 + if we had not been award a sharing grant from the Sheriff Police, said Chief Weitzel”. Weitzel applied for the sharing grant in 2011.
The new technology will not allow scanners to monitor the frequency.
