LEWISTOWN — Imagine you're a police officer sitting in your car trying to radio for help and not being able to. That was the situation for some Lewistown police officers last year, and now the department is getting more money to help solve the problem.
Justin Jenness has been Lewistown's police chief for about four years and has seen firsthand just how desperately the city has needed this equipment.
"The last homicide we had last summer, our officers arrived on scene and they could not talk to dispatch or each other while trying to find a murder suspect that had fled the scene. That was the straw that broke the camel's back and really highlighted the need for us to upgrade our technology," Jenness said.
Lewistown city commissioners recently approved about $1.3 million to be used for getting new equipment, such as a 911 recording system, a new 800 megahertz radio tower and corresponding radios.
Jenness says the 911 system broke last year and that the tower will be the most expensive piece, sitting around $700,000. He added that the 800 megahertz radios allow for building penetration, which they do not have in every building, such as Fergus High School. If an officer tries to signal out while in the school, they get a solid tone which means they are not able to contact dispatch or fellow officers.
"This is vitally important. A lot of our current radios are 20 plus years old. The needs of our community are definitely growing, just like everywhere else in Montana," Jenness said. "We definitely notice an uptick in our calls for service and the amount of resources we have to, you know, deploy on a regular basis. It's been a long process, but more we're getting to where we need to be."
Jenness estimates that Lewistown gets anywhere from 7,000 to 8,000 calls per year, and have 13 officers when fully staffed. They've already gotten the equipment for the 911 recording system. For the officers that will be using this equipment daily, it's a sigh of relief knowing they'll have an effective way to communicate when needed.
First year Lewistown police officer Mike May had a recent call where he found his radio to not be working.
"We had a call for a an open door burglary alarm. My partner was 15 feet away from me around the corner," May recalled. "It was at night, the winds were blowing, we had snow coming in. I'm sitting there trying to radio him. And when I can't get a hold of him and he's right around the corner, it's a little stressful. It can be a little hectic and unnerving when you're on scene and you're trying to get that information out and you can't. Radios are essential. That's how we communicate with our dispatch. That's how they relay information to us. It becomes a safety issue when we can't effectively communicate."
Jenness added that they expect the tower to be fully operational within nine to twelve months and the radios to all be in Lewistown within six months.
"The amount of support our first responders receive in this community is tremendous," Jenness said. "To have a one-time project like this approved is pretty awesome."
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