LERN a lesson in police cooperation.
By Jennifer Morrill, The Jersey Journal
After the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, law enforcement was forced to look at different ways to protect citizens and to best prepare for future large-scale attacks or disasters.
One suggestion put forth by New Jersey’s federal and state officials was to integrate communication systems between municipal police departments - and Hudson County will be the first county in New Jersey to do this.
Starting this week, each of the county’s 12 municipalities, the Sheriff’s Office, the Prosecutor’s Office, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey police, will all be connected through a countywide communication system called Hudson County Law Enforcement Radio Network, or HC LERN.
Currently, all broadcasts by Hudson County law enforcement are transmitted over the State Police Emergency Network, or SPEN, a busy system that officials say is often congested.
Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said the new countywide system will quicken response time and prevent the clogging of airwaves.
“It’s real-time communication,” DeFazio said last week while demonstrating the new equipment at the Sheriff’s Office’s Duncan Avenue headquarters.
DeFazio said the State Police provided the 800 megahertz frequency, or airwave, required for transmission, which will be based out of the Sheriff’s Office. The system will be monitored twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week by a sheriff’s officer.
Each municipality will also have its own antenna picking up the frequency, and a console to send out broadcasts. A hand-held radio to be used on-site during emergency situations was also provided to each municipality from the Prosecutor’s Office.
DeFazio said the Prosecutor’s Office spent about $30,000 from the Law Enforcement Trust Fund to purchase the radios for each department and to install the technology. The fund comes from a cache of forfeited money seized during crimes, mostly drug-related.
Most municipalities are already on-line, Sheriff Joseph T. Cassidy said, and he expects the entire county to be connected by week’s end.
“We’re the first one to have this up and running in the state,” Cassidy said. “This is extremely important.”
In explaining the system’s benefits, Cassidy cited the recent incident where a taxi driver and a police officer in Hoboken were shot by a gunman who fled to Jersey City. Descriptions of the suspect and his vehicle were transmitted on SPEN, and other agencies picked up the chase.
Had the new system been in place, the response might have been even quicker, he said.