By Fernanda Echavarri, Arizona Daily Star
Original publication date: Jan. 30

Tucson, Ariz. — For almost a decade now Pima County has been working to implement a $104 million Regional Emergency Communications Program that would let every police officer, sheriff’s deputy and firefighter in the county talk to one another.

The Pima County Wireless Integrated Network was approved by voters in 2004 and by the Board of Supervisors.

In 2009 the county signed a $47 million contract with Motorola for radio system infrastructure, and a second contract for the microwave system is in the works, said project administrator Capt. Paul Wilson of the Pima County Sheriff’s Department.

The Sheriff’s Department and the Tucson Police Department are using 25-year-old systems.

“For many, many years, it’s been argued that there’s a need for this type of communication,” Wilson said. “And after September 11, it gave credibility to those arguments and gave the project support locally.”

The project will provide digital public-safety radio service to more than 30 agencies in the county to make it easier for fire and police to communicate with each other.

That does not include the privately run Rural/Metro fire district. It would have to pay into the project to join.

Each radio will cost $3,000 to $4,000, and the project would need about 6,000 units. That would put the estimated monthly fee for participating agencies at $96 per unit.

Once the project was approved by the voters the research began, Wilson said. “We had to look into what the agencies’ needs were, and the equipment they all have, we are building this whole thing from the ground up.”

The project has three components – the radio system, the equipping of 26 radio towers throughout the county to allow interconnectivity, and the renovation of a former call center at 3434 E. 22nd St. into a centralized communications center.

The first of 26 towers is under construction at the Golder Ranch Fire Station at 355 E. Linda Vista Road. Four others will begin construction soon, Wilson said.

The project is expected to be operational in 2014.

About the Author
Contact reporter Fernanda Echavarri at 573-4224 or at fechavarri@azstarnet.com

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