By Jim Hook, Public Opinion
Original publication date: July 7, 2011

Chambersburg, Pa. — The county is purchasing 26 radios for probation officers at a cost of $3,409 each.

“That seems extreme,” Guilford Township resident Joshua Jones told commissioners on Thursday.

“It’s what a radio costs,” Franklin County Commissioner Robert Thomas said. “They are discounted. I don’t know how you explain it.”

The county is moving its emergency communications system to new frequencies that are to improve communications between first responders and eliminate areas where there is no radio reception. Police, ambulance and municipalities have replaced their radios.

The 26 radios will go to adult and juvenile probation officers. The county is spending $88,623 — $30,000 from a COPS grant and $58,623 from the contingency fund of local tax dollars.

About half are portable and the other half will be mounted on vehicle dashboards, according to County Administrator John Hart. The Motorola Model 2500 has a mid-range price and comes with software, encryption and a two-year warranty. The company is giving the county a 25 percent discount.

The units can be programmed over the air so officers can talk to different work groups while in the field, Hart said. Microphones come with the dash-mounted units.

The county started using the $6.9 million emergency radio system earlier this year and simultaneously broadcasts on the legacy system. The system, installed by Motorola, was eight years in the making.

Non-county agencies have spent millions of dollars to purchase radios to operate the system.

The price increased after the county failed to get approval from the Federal Communications Commission for its original request to transmit on high frequencies. County commissioners compensated the agencies $415,000 to reprogram 383 radios for use on the former television frequencies. 

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