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Saturday, June 29, 2002
City and County Reach Deal Over Dispatchers [Source: Los Angeles Times] Links of interest Ventura County Fire Department Santa Paula Frequencies Ventura County Fire Department Frequencies City fire officials have announced they would consolidate the department's fire and rescue dispatch operations with those of the Ventura County Fire Protection District. Under the agreement, the county fire district will provide emergency dispatch services for Santa Paula, while the city's department will help the county respond to incidents in nearby unincorporated areas. Santa Paula had used its dispatchers to handle police and fire calls, which affected the quality of emergency service, said Jerry Byrum, acting assistant fire chief. The new joint dispatch service "is a win-win situation for everybody," Byrum said, adding that he would like to see more cooperation between the city and county. No jobs were lost in the consolidation. Byrum said Santa Paula's dispatchers will continue to handle local police calls. The consolidation takes effect July 10, leaving Oxnard as the only city in the county that has not consolidated its fire dispatch services with the county. Copyright 2002 Los Angeles Times
Scanning Nevada Highway Patrol [Source: ScanNorCal]  This is a message posted to the Yahoo! Group, SCANnorCAL, on Jun 28, 2002 I just took a trip across Nevada and up to southern Idaho. My route was across 80 from Truckee to Wells, up to Idaho, and back a few days later. Using a Pro-92 and a 2m/70cm roof-mount antenna, I monitored the following freqs non-stop: 42.5 42.56 42.7 42.74 42.8 42.88 42.94 151.04 151.055 151.07 151.085 151.115 151.145 151.265 153.92 154.025 155.445 (control data heard) 155.46 (control data heard) 155.565 (control data heard) The VHF low freqs were absolutely dead. Nothing broke the squelch at all. I suspect that NHP is no longer using those freqs, even in rural areas. A lot of my route was pretty darned rural. It doesn't get much more desolate than 80 east of Reno. The 150 freqs were on the other hand quite active. I did not program them as trunked freqs, but they scanned just fine anyway. I did not hear any control channels except around Reno. The control freqs I heard there were 155.565, 155.46, and 155.445 - I simply locked them out. I passed thru Reno during the evening or weekend, so almost all the traffic was police, even though I was not trunking. I suspect that NHP is using these same freqs for both rural and urban, but simply not trunking them in rural areas. NHP uses 10 codes that differ from CA. 10-6, for example, means traffic enforcement stop. They also use less brevity codes in general, more plain language, and I don't believe that I heard any Penal Codes used. The NHP really smoke when they are pursuing speeders. Their Crown Vics must all have the Interceptor package. When you call in to report a big rig being driven in an unsafe manner, the NHP takes it very seriously. They ask you if you're willing to sign a complaint. If so, you go to court with the Trooper and testify against the offender. If CA did that, maybe we'd have less big rig fatalities. Big rigs cause 11 times more fatalities than cars. It's just a matter of physics. Big rigs in Nevada are required to leave 500 feet clear in front of them on the freeway. So anything resembling tailgating is patently illegal, and very easy for Troopers to spot from a distance. It's refreshing to see so many big rigs not tailgating. It's also very refreshing to get out of CA and see so few people driving like the pinhead aggressive speeding *ssholes we see around the Frisco bay area etc. The speed limit in Nevada is 75 for everybody including big rigs, and almost nobody was going much faster. Wednesday, June 26, 2002
July 4 sparks fears [Source: Los Angeles Daily News] By Dana Bartholomew Braced for the most "explosive" fire conditions in 30 years, Los Angeles firefighters prepared on Tuesday to empty every firehouse in the event of a summer superblaze. County, city and U.S. Forestry Service fire departments ramped up training as Gov. Gray Davis signed an executive order to beef up fire preparedness and county officials begged residents to forgo backyard fireworks on Independence Day. "Explosive, the fire danger is explosive," said Capt. Brian Jordan, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Fire Department. "All the brush and vegetation is dry ... we're beyond extreme." The parched chaparral and canyons that haven't burned in 20 years have placed fire departments on high alert during what will officially become the driest year on record for Southern California when the month and rain season end. Fire officials cite brush moisture levels of 70 percent and dropping -- now a third below normal and soon dropping to the point where live vegetation will burn as brightly as dead fuel, fire officials said. "It's getting to be a bad year, and it's not going to be any better," said county Assistant Fire Chief Herbert Spitzer, who is in charge of forestry prevention. "In the 30 years with this department, this is the most critical year I've seen." "The fuel is so dry, the weather is in alignment for a catastrophic wildfire." Worst areas of concern, he said, are the Santa Clarita Valley high country (very high danger); the Los Angeles Basin, from Claremont to the San Fernando Valley (high); the Antelope Valley (high); and the Malibu coastal areas and the Santa Clarita Valley (moderate). Some deserts are so dry, Spitzer said, there aren't any grasses to burn. To counter the threat of errant sparks from fireworks -- both legal and illegal -- county and city fire departments plan to augment brush patrols and firehouse crews on July Fourth weekend. More than 3,000 firefighters in each department will be on standby in the event of problems. The county will deploy a special team of firefighting coordinators and extra water tenders, patrol units, helicopters, bulldozers and 135 extra fire camp firefighters from prison. The city will send out 14 brush patrols, five teams of arson patrols and is training every Fire Department clerical worker for brush-fire combat. "In the event we do have a major fire, these guys will be the second line of defense," said Battalion Chief Robert Franco of the Los Angeles Fire Department. "Any little thing can spark a major fire." Los Angeles police have been asked to stringently enforce a zero-tolerance order on firecrackers, sparklers, M-80s and Safe & Sane fireworks, legal in some other cities. Los Angeles County supervisors voted Tuesday to launch a campaign to inform residents that fireworks of any kind are illegal in unincorporated county areas and urged the public to use good judgment on the Fourth of July. "Every year, people are injured, property is destroyed and scarce fire suppression dollars are spent during the weeks before and after the Fourth of July due to the use of illegal fireworks, the misuse of illegal fireworks and the discharge of weapons into the air," Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich said. Sheriff Lee Baca warned residents not to shoot guns in the air and said violators of state fireworks laws face fines of at least $500 and up to a year in jail if convicted. The good news, fire officials said, is that residents have been especially diligent this spring in complying with brush clearance in high danger zones. Spritzer said 97 percent of county residents have worked to clear brush and gutter debris from their homes. While 34,000 notices of noncompliance were mailed to Valley residents last year, Valley inspectors reported that 13,000 were mailed this spring out of 120,000 properties inspected. "We're surprised at how well people have done their work," LAFD Valley Brush Inspector Dave Stevens said. "It'll really make a difference in helping stop fire -- and that's all we ask for." Severe fire conditions and scant rainfall have already led to 2,298 wildfires in California this year, burning almost three times the acreage of the previous fire season. On Tuesday, President George W. Bush toured Eagar, Ariz., and offered federal assistance during the largest fire in that state's history. Eighteen fires are burning in six Western states. Since spring, more than 2 million acres have been charred. On Tuesday, Davis signed an executive order requiring the California Department of Forestry to deploy additional firefighting resources throughout the state. In addition to more safety inspections, extra fire engines and fire camp crews will be deployed in Los Angeles, Ventura and other Southern California counties. The California National Guard is also preparing airplanes and helicopters to fight major fires. "I am taking a proactive step during this extraordinary fire season to ensure that the people and resources of the state have the best protection possible," Davis said in a prepared statement. "I have great admiration for California firefighters. We are committed to making their job as safe as possible." Copyright © 2002 Los Angeles Daily News Tuesday, June 25, 2002
LAPD depleted by scores of injured officers [Source: Los Angeles Daily News] By Mariel Garza The Los Angeles Police Department's shortage of staff actually is far worse than announced, with nearly 1,110 officers on light duty or off work entirely because of injuries, the Daily News learned Monday. With violent crime on the rise, concern has grown about the LAPD's troubles recruiting and retaining officers, which have left it more than 1,100 below its authorized strength of 10,000. But the actual full active duty strength of the LAPD is 12.1 percent lower, with 523 officers out due to injuries suffered on duty -- out for years, in some cases -- and 559 assigned to desk work or other light duty because of injuries, officials said. The rate of officers off duty due to injury is nearly twice that of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. "The numbers are out of control," said Councilman Dennis Zine, who will introduce a motion today to address the growing numbers of city employees who are filling a position but not actually out in the field. The City Council motion directs the city's Personnel Department to seek private companies to bring down workers' compensation costs by getting injured officers back to work sooner and finding ways to prevent future injuries. The city has been in crisis for months due to a chronic shortage of officers, which city officials have blamed for hampering the department's crime-fighting abilities. Special enforcement groups like narcotics have been depleted, and investigations have in some cases been put aside due to lack of resources, officials said. Last month, the DARE program was nearly disbanded because the department needed more officers on patrol. Complicating that matter is that the LAPD isn't allowed to replace injured officers, said Joe Gunn, executive director of the Police Commission. "We have a problem ... that when someone goes off injured, we don't get to fill that position," Gunn said. "And if they come back on light duty, most of time there are so many restrictions from the doctor that we can't do much with them." The numbers of officers out due to injury on the job varies from week to week, said LAPD spokesman Officer Jose Rodriguez. This week, 523 officers are on paid injury leave, which includes a range of officers -- from those out for a couple of days with a sprain to those out for a couple of years. In addition, 559 others are on light duty due to an injury. Comparatively, the Los Angeles Fire Department has 114 of its 3,165 uniformed personnel currently out for injuries, said Capt. Edward Bushman, commander of the Fire Department's medical liaison office. He said 63 others are on light duty, filling nonfield jobs. And of the 9,290 deputies in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, about 3 percent, or 292, are out on disability leave, which the department defines as anyone with an injury or industrial illness who has been off for five days or more. Light-duty figures were unavailable from the Sheriff's Department. The numbers of LAPD officers injured on duty was dismaying to Gordon Murley, president of the Woodland Hills Homeowners Organization. He and his neighbors had already noticed a shortage at his local West Valley LAPD station, where on a recent night, only six of the 10 patrol cars were on duty. The amount of officers out due to disability is just one of the many factors that has led to the shortage that they noticed, he said. "It has a cumulative effect," Murley said. But he doesn't see that changing soon. "Everybody in the city knows that workers' comp is grossly abused." Gunn and Zine both agree the department has not done a good job following up with injured or sick officers to get them back to work sooner. Criminologist Lewis Yablonsky, a professor emeritus at California State University, Northridge, said injuries are just part of the job for cops and are likely to be higher than other city departments. "Relative to other kinds of employment, like accounting or being a professor or a reporter, the stress of police officers' job is enormous," he said. Copyright © 2002 Los Angeles Daily News
UK security details 'listed on web' [Source: BBC News] The safety of the Royal Family and top politicians is at risk because classified security details are being published on the internet, it has been revealed. Radio scanning enthusiast Paul Wey is intercepting Special Branch and other communications and publishing their details on internet news groups, BBC Radio 4's Today programme has learned. An intelligence source said Mr Wey was a "menace", whose actions could help terrorists commit atrocities and may have already been used to counter police operations. Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Simon Hughes said the government must consider banning radio scanners, which are currently illegal to use but not to own. 'Limited harm' Mr Wey, from Hertford, told Today he had a list of frequencies used by security for any big events or organisations in London. He admitted that what he was doing was illegal, but denied the information he was publishing would be "gold dust" to potential terrorists. He said: "They would be aware of these things whether I published them or not", adding that the harm being done to national security was "limited". Mr Wey suggested that his activities could prompt the authorities to take better care of security - for instance by ensuring that Special Branch's radio equipment was updated as it should be. Restricted The intelligence source said Mr Wey and his website were "a severe danger to the public and to national security". "It's basically what I would describe as an ex-directory publication of radio frequencies used by the government, security services, military and police and other emergency services throughout the UK." She said the frequencies and files published contained "highly restricted" information. The source called for the site to be closed down, as well as for scanners to be made illegal. She said: "They can only be used for illegal activity. It's similar to saying to somebody: 'It's OK to have a gun, as long as you don't put bullets in it'." Millwall suspicion The source suggested Mr Wey's newsgroup may have been used by Millwall supporters to avoid police during riots at the south London football club on 2 May. A month before the riots, someone claiming to be a Millwall supporter posted a message on Mr Wey's site. It read: "We're always getting bothered by the police so want to turn it the other way around and watch them closely. "Does anyone know the exact frequency or listen to police when Millwall games are on?" Mr Wey said he would not entertain such questions on his website: "I'm not having people like that on the group." However, the Today programme has seen evidence that Mr Wey provided the supporter with radio frequencies, plus information about police deployments and intelligence. Prosecutions Speaking to the BBC Simon Hughes said: "The first thing that needs to happen is to make sure that the equipment that the police have is the best available. "We have to make sure that our people doing this job have the most secure communications possible." The options for action the UK authorities could take against Mr Wey are limited. Most web groups like his are registered in the US and, as such, are out of bounds to the UK authorities. But a Home Office spokeswoman said it was also illegal to publish transmissions on websites, and added that people had been prosecuted in the past. She said: "The material would have to be assessed to see if any offence had been committed or if there was any civil wrong." There is also the option of prosecuting Internet Service Providers which fail to remove the material if they know it is there. The maximum penalty for listening to private radio communications with a scanner is a £5,000 fine and confiscation of the equipment. Sunday, June 23, 2002
FON UPDATES [Source: Freq Of Nature; Mathew Grant] UPDATE Ventura Regional Sanitation District added to the Ventura County page. UPDATE Los Angeles Police Department page has been given a make over along with some new content and updates of old information. UPDATE California Highway Patrol page has been given a make over along with the addition of VHF-AM Aircraft frequencies. To contribute information or frequency lists, or to point out errors here at Freq Of Nature please visit the Radio Check page or e-mail us at comments@freqofnature.com. |