By Kevin Flynn, New York Times
olice officials said yesterday that a hidden radio transmitter worn by one of the undercover officers killed Monday night went silent at a critical juncture, causing their backup team to lose track of them just before they were shot.
Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said the Police Department would review the equipment to see if there were better alternatives.
The radio transmitters worn by police officers have grown smaller and more sophisticated in recent years, but veteran undercover investigators say they are still maddeningly inconsistent. Weather, steel girders, railroad underpasses or hilly terrain, as was the case Monday night in Staten Island, can block reception and sever the ability of backup officers to hear if an officer is in danger.
Police officials said spotty reception was not evidence of defects in the devices, known as kels. Rather, natural obstacles can hamper communications with the tiny radios, which often have less than a watt in power.
“They experience the same sort of problems that the users of other technological equipment, like cellphones, encounter in certain areas,” said Deputy Chief Michael Collins, a police spokesman.
Nonetheless, Mr. Kelly’s decision to review alternatives was applauded by the Detectives Endowment Association, the union representing the slain officers. “It’s a challenge, no question about it,” Mr. Kelly said, “to have something small enough to avoid detection but large enough to transmit a sufficient distance.”
To improve transmission, investigators often place a booster in the trunk of a car that is parked near where an undercover officer is scheduled to meet a suspect. Even then, veteran investigators say, the backup team may have a hard time hearing.
“I have been in places where I could see the moving lips of my undercover,” said one narcotics investigator, “and the kel, with an antenna and the booster, was still not working.”
Typically, the backup officers park a block or so away, receiving and recording the conversation with a device that resembles a small suitcase.
Police officials said that on Monday, the backup officers lost reception when they were forced to drive around the block, a hilly spot, to avoid being spotted. Until then, reception had been crystal clear, the officials said, leading them to believe that the transmitter had fresh batteries and was working properly.
“It seems to have been a location issue rather than an equipment issue,” Chief Collins said.