Chief: Police communications system is outdated

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May 6, 2008

By Suzanne Laurent

LONDONDERRY — Police Chief Joe Ryan told the Town Council on May 5 that the department's 13-year-old communications system is outdated and frequently goes down necessitating the need for emergency backup.

"Simply put, we are operating on a Windows 3.1 system and it cannot be supported by Motorola," Ryan said.

"Emergency backup is sufficient to deal with now, but it is at the point where it may not come back up."

Ryan said that the new system would cost $360,000 with a state bid.

"That's the lowest (bid) you can go with," he said.

This would be for mostly hardware.

Town Manager Dave Caron told the council that a new system was budgeted in the Capital Improvement Plan for 2010.

"I don't believe it will last that long," Caron said.

Councilor Brian Farmer said that the need for a new communication system would "certainly be deemed an emergency."

Caron said that assistant town manager Sue Hickey has been looking into various ways to pay for the system including the health insurance balance account, grant funding, emergency funds from the 2006 and 2007 floods and drug forfeiture money.

Councilor Kathy Wagner noted that with the speed at which technology is growing that this would be an item that would have to be looked at every three to five years.

Farmer agreed and said that if the new software was for Windows XP, it should be able to switch to the newer Vista operating system.

Ryan said that the mobile systems used by police personnel would not have to be replaced as they were already upgraded with a grant received several years ago.

Ryan said that the new equipment should meet the requirements of Homeland Security in response to a question from Councilor Paul DiMarco.

According to fire chief Kevin MacCaffrie, his department's equipment is newer.

"We just received $80,000 from the state for upgrades," he told the council.

Councilors voted 5-0 to bring the matter to public hearing on May 19.

Police Department recognizes employees

LONDONDERRY — In honor of Police Week, Chief Joe Ryan recognized staff members at the Town Council meeting on May 5.

Officer Garrett Malloy was named Officer of the Year.

"Last year, Officer Malloy received a medal for a situation where he and Sgt. Jason Breen were confronted with a rather large knife, and Officer Malloy was able to talk the person out of harming them," Ryan said.

Records clerk and information technology specialist John Eric Ledoux received recognition as Employee of the Year for his work with the department's information system.

The Southern New Hampshire Special Operations Unit received special recognition for using a defibrillator on an individual who fell ill during a training exercise and saving his life.

Ryan introduced the department's newest member, Officer Shannon Sargent.

He recognized retiring Officer Maureen Matrese, who served with the department for 21 years, including time as a school resource officer.

— Suzanne Laurent