Harris Corp. to replace aging public safety communications system ...

Four area localities have hired Harris Corp. to replace an aging public safety communications system in a contract worth almost $12 million.

The work will replace the 15-year-old shared radio infrastructure between the cities of Lynchburg and Bedford and the counties of Amherst and Bedford with a higher standard of digital communication called P25.

It will include adding three new communications towers, two in Bedford County and one in Amherst County, as well as moving some of the 11 existing towers to boost signals in areas where service is difficult, said Gary Roakes, director of public safety for Amherst County and chair of the Region 2000 Radio Communications Board, which made the deal with Harris.

Bill Aldrich, director of Lynchburg?s Department of Emergency Services, said public safety workers have experienced ?randomly good? coverage with the current system, but the changes to towers will improve service across the board.

The radios will be updated from analog to digital, allowing for clearer communication, Roakes said.

The contract with Harris, announced Thursday, is worth $11.7 million, but does not include the mobile radios each jurisdiction will need to purchase, he said.

The system is expected to be in place by early 2014, with testing to take place next year.

Harris has about 800 employees locally and the work will be done here, said Chuck Shaughnessy, the company?s vice president. He said the local employees are proud to be working on something that will one day help save lives in the community.

Campbell and Appomattox counties were asked if they wanted to join in the new system, but declined, Roakes said.

The board built a public safety radio infrastructure allowing different jurisdictions to share towers, which makes communication between the groups easier, he said. The current system and the new system allow for public safety personnel to manually switch frequencies on the radio to speak to other jurisdictions or dispatch can link the two via computer.

With areas outside of the infrastructure, additional steps are necessary that are less efficient and require dispatchers from both localities to speak on a telephone to patch the frequencies together, he said.

The localities saved money by pitching in to upgrade the system, Roakes said. He said if each locality bought its own upgrades, it could have cost about $5 million apiece, raising the total cost to about $20 million

?The upgraded system is more cost efficient and cost effective,? he said.

The cost for the 15-year bond to pay for the system is split between each locality depending on how much equipment each needs. Bedford County will pay almost 37 percent, Lynchburg will pay 30 percent, Amherst County will pay 28 percent and Bedford City will pay about 5 percent of the costs.

Roakes said the board is seeking grants to help pay for the system.?

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