RCMP praise new radio system

By Sharon McLeay Times Contributor

At the June 2 council meeting, Wheatland County Councillor Scott Klassen asked the Strathmore RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Jay Salmon for his perspective on using the Alberta First Responders Radio Communications System (AFRRCS).
Klassen had questions about the radio coordination between emergency services.
“Something I have heard is there is some communication problems with fire, EMS, things like that. If you have to get a hold of our guy, you have to go through a certain number,” said Klassen. “You can’t get a hold of them and they can’t get a hold of you.”
The system was established last summer and some of the rural emergency services noted there are dead zones and delays in reaching the RCMP, and they had objections about the cost of radios.
The new system is digitally connected to a networked computer system. The old system used a single channel two-way radio system that significantly limited the range of communication.
Salmon stated the new system encrypts police channels, so there is no sharing or scanning available. He said emergency services can communicate by signing on to a mutual talk group. The problem is each service has to text or call to alert other services to tune into the talk group channel.
“The switchover so far has been amazing. The radio coverage is so much better,” said Salmon.
He gave the example of a City of Calgary police helicopter tracking a stolen vehicle that went out of the city into the Strathmore RCMP district. He said communication between the two services and the helicopter was seamless. With the old system, Salmon said the exchanges were chaotic.
While Salmon was at the meeting, he outlined the criminal activity in the county for the last quarter.
“Overall for investigations and calls for service, we went from 992 calls for 2018 to 1,068 for 2019,” he said. “Most of our stats are down and again this is just a snapshot of quarter versus quarter. It gives you a bit of a picture of what’s happening.”
He gave the crime statistics breakdowns for council and then the meeting went into an in-camera session.