The Riley County Police Department and the Emergency Management has upgraded their radio system.
Josh Kyle, RCPD Captain, says that the new system was much needed. He talks about the dangers of the old radio system that the police department was using.
“In fact it was an officer safety issue. There was a number of places in the county where you just couldn’t communicate. There was a lot of static on the radio. You couldn’t hear if somebody was up in the northern part of the county, you just simply couldn’t hear them. There was a number of areas where you couldn’t get out on your portable radio you had to get in your car to get out on a radio at all, and that’s if you were lucky,” says Captain Kyle.
Captain Kyle says the new radio system is crystal clear and also offers encrypted channels so that people can’t listen in unless they have an encryption key. He mentions how the importance of the encryption channels.
“There’s a lot of private information that goes over our radios, we need to be able to speak clearly, quickly, and communicate critical information. Having encrypted channels allows us to do that with confidence,” he says.
Kyle says the addition of the new radio system was a huge project, but one that will help keep the community safe. The system will be used by the 911 center, RCPD and the Manhattan Fire Department.
