By Bill Baskervill, The Associated Press
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- The state and Motorola Inc. signed a $329 million contract Friday for design and construction of a digital radio system that will revolutionize emergency communications in Virginia.
“This is a day that is long, long, long overdue,” said Robert P. Crouch Jr., chief deputy secretary for public safety.
In the post 9-11 world “no priority is more important than the ability of law enforcement and first responders to communicate with each other,” Crouch said during a signing ceremony at Virginia State Police headquarters.
The Statewide Agencies Radio System, or STARS, ultimately will link 20 state agencies and local law enforcement agencies with state-of-the-art digital voice and encrypted data communication.
The first phase of the program is set to become operational in central Virginia by December 2005. Installation statewide will be completed in seven phases with the project becoming fully operational in September 2009.
STARS will replace a 27-year-old antiquated analog radio system that officials say is dangerously unreliable.
A tape recording was played of state Trooper Gary Horner trying to communicate with dispatcher Kim Miller after he was shot at an Interstate 64 rest stop in New Kent County on Nov. 24, 2002.
Horner could barely be heard shouting through the static, but Miller gets no response as she keeps calling him.
Finally, Horner can be heard saying, “I got hit several times.” That message got through on Horner’s fourth attempt to call the dispatcher.
Miller said it was frustrating not being able to get through to the wounded trooper, who returned fire and killed his assailant. “Due to the radio, I couldn’t hear” him, said Miller.
Horner was hit seven times, including in the back. He returned to duty a year later after recovering from his wounds.
State police Superintendent W. Steve Flaherty said the STARS system will save lives because “when seconds count, so does efficient and clear communication for the injured motorist, crime victim or wounded trooper,” noting that a trooper’s “lifeline is his radio.”
Col. Steven G. Bowman, chief of law enforcement for the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, said STARS will ensure that help will be sent immediately to an officer “because the call will be head the first time.”
Flaherty said the system also “will be the cornerstone of timely, effective response” to natural disasters like Hurricane Isabel.
The state police demonstrated the difference between its analog radios and the STARS system. A transmission from Caroline County was mostly static, the officer’s voice barely perceptible, her message unintelligible.
Using digital STARS four minutes later from the same location, her voice and message were crystal clear.
STARS will provide the 20 state agencies and each city and country government at least one connection at no cost to the localities.
The 2004 General Assembly approved $159.3 million in bonds to fund the project for the next two years.
Motorola will install about 130 radio and microwave sites throughout the state to ensure statewide coverage. The company also will provide training and distribute equipment.