Saxo Staff, The Union Leader (Manchester, NH)

WINDHAM — Police are urging Windham voters to consider a $84,600 warrant item for the replacement of their vehicles’ two-way radios and computers.

Police Chief Gerald Lewis said the passage of Article 9 next month would allow the police department to purchase a dozen new mobile radios and seven mobile data terminals to install in Windham’s police cruisers.

As part of the town’s Capital Improvement Program, Lewis said $23,348 in “public safety contracted services detail” funds would be used toward the project should voters pass the article, with the remaining $61,252 to come from taxes.

The Windham Police Department currently uses Motorola Spectra Mobile Radios in each of the 12-vehicles in the fleet as well as ITRONIX Mobile Data Terminals (MDT) in five of the marked vehicles.

Lewis said the radios the police are now using were made in the mid- to late 1990s, and after more than 15 years of use are no longer supported by the manufacturer.

“Parts are no longer available for these radios,” Lewis said. “Because of the need to ensure 24/7 communications and maintain officer safety, it is critical that the public safety radios remain technologically current, operational and uninterrupted at all times.”

The police department’s portable radios were replaced in 2012 when the state department of safety issued federal Homeland Security Grant funds to Windham and countless other Granite State police forces.

“Unfortunately, there is no such funding source available for mobile radio and computer replacements,” Lewis said.

The department’s current mobile data terminals, which are the portable computers linking officers in cruisers to staff at the police station as well as state and regional emergency and law enforcement officials, were purchased as part of a law enforcement technology grant back in 2005.

But after nearly eight years of daily use, one of those five computers is no longer working and the remaining four have multiple malfunctions.

“Some of them have duct tape affixed to keep them operational,” Lewis said.

Voting on all town and school warrant articles will take place Tuesday, March 12, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Windham High School.

Residents with further questions regarding Article 9 are encouraged to contact Chief Lewis at 434-5577 or glewis@windhampd.com

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