New radios to connect university and county police

University and county police will soon be able to contact any county police or fire department with just a turn of a knob, thanks to about $1.5 million in federal stimulus money.

The money, which came from the 2009 stimulus bill, will be used to equip both police departments with new hi-tech radios that officials say are bound to improve public safety. Before, police and fire officials in different Prince George's County municipalities were unable to communicate with each other via radio, forcing them to instead go through the more cumbersome process of contacting each others' dispatchers in order to track down individual responders.

"Having communication with the county people as well as the wider capital region really gives us an ability to operate better in an emergency situation," University Police Maj. Jay Gruber said.  "And our officers work quite closely with Prince George's County police, so being able to go to them directly will also be very helpful."

Of the 23 towns and cities in Prince George's County receiving the federal Recovery Act grants, the university received the most money — upward of $250,000, which will help pay for about 80 radios at a cost of $3,796 apiece.

Gruber hopes university officers will have the radios in their hands by April or early May.
Although the city doesn't have its own police force, it falls within the county police's District 1 jurisdiction, which also includes Hyattsville. The city's small contract police force didn't receive grant money.

Some students applauded the new radios, saying they could help in the event a disaster were to strike the region.

"On [Sept. 11] for example, perhaps the biggest problem that the emergency crews had was the inability to communicate," freshman bioengineering major Anthony Fouad said. "If some grand disaster were to occur, communication is the most important thing in coordinating the emergency response."

Other students were doubtful the new radios could effectively impact their everyday safety.

"It seems like it would be more efficient ... but would it really take that much time to call one extra person?" junior journalism major Lisa Krysiak said. "I wouldn't necessarily think it would make me feel safer to know that the police had high-tech radios."

Gruber said the 80 radios would be enough to cover all of the active, patrolling University Police officers and detectives. He said the radios' usefulness was not limited to major disasters — officers who see a fire or car accident outside of their jurisdiction would be able to respond more quickly and effectively.

"A good example of how it could be useful is the fact that we're always looking for people who have arrest or search warrants out," he said. "So now an investigator can just get on the radio if a suspect is on site."

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