The new radio communications system is part of the overall LAPD plan to upgrade its emergency communications system. Motorola will install a new communications infrastructure so officers in all parts of the city can use their portable radios to communicate directly with each other and the dispatch center.
"The new radio system will provide the citizens of Los Angeles with enormous public safety benefits," LAPD Police Chief Bernard C. Parks said. "It is a major priority of this department to enhance the communications capabilities of the LAPD to strengthen our ability to protect our communities. Police officers will have the ability to communicate across the street or across town, greatly enhancing our day-to-day communications efforts and strengthening our communications capabilities during emergencies."
The master radio system will interface with the emergency command, control and communications system (ECCCS) and the newly planned 9-1-1 dispatch centers. The system will be a UHF, 57-channel, digital wide-area simulcast system specifically engineered for Los Angeles' varied terrain.
There will be five simulcast subsystems that will use 24 sites throughout the city to support more than 9,500 ASTRO SABER III™ portable radios used by LAPD officers. The portables are dual mode (analog and digital). When the system is in place, the radios will work in the digital mode.
The portables were designed by Motorola to accommodate future technology and feature enhancement through software downloads.
In November 1996, the city finalized an $8.3 million contract with Motorola to begin the civil-site development part of the contract, which includes construction of tower sites and buildings critical to the installation of the ECCCS or master radio system.
The installation of the communications infrastructure will begin in conjunction with the civil contract work already under way. The design, development and installation of this complex system will take about three and a half years, Motorola said.
Motorola also will install a $20 million state-of-the-art data communications system designed to provide the LAPD with expanded data capabilities, support today's dispatch and informational data requirements and many new data applications. The system, Private DataTAC™, will offer a high level of data capacity to support future multiple data terminal devices and connectivity to national, state and local crime information computers and records management systems.
With the installation of the new voice radio system, Los Angeles will join the growing number of public safety organizations to install systems based on Project 25 digital radio standards.
The Los Angeles radio system will meet the Project 25 conventional radio systems standard. This will ensure that a compliant Project 25 radio will be able to "communicate" with another one, regardless of the manufacturer.