Daniel Fowler, The Examiner
2007-10-05 07:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

Prince George’s County -

Prince George's County will use the nearly $2.3 million in federal funding it recently received to help keep the community safe during the holidays and to upgrade the public safety communication system, according to John Erzen, a spokesman for County Executive Jack Johnson.

Erzen said the county will use roughly $1.5 million as part of the $62 million public safety communication system upgrade, slated for completion in spring 2009.

The project entails construction of 15 radio towers and the upgrading of equipment on six towers, Erzen said. Prince George's will be moving from a UHF/VHF/low-band system to a 700/800-megahertz system, which the county's director of homeland security has suggested is more reliable.

“Our radio system is 20 years old and it's outdated and for a long time Prince George's County has been the communication gap in the Washington region,” Erzen said. “And by having this new radio system we are going to close that gap.”

On Sept. 11, 2001, Erzen said first responders from Prince George's couldn't communicate with first responders from other jurisdictions at the Pentagon because of the outdated system.

The County Council voted this week to allow the construction of the towers and the installation of the equipment to begin.

The county also received a $782,014 grant from the Department of Justice. “That is a grant that we get every year,” Erzen said. “And the money is primarily used for the holiday [police] patrols that we have.”

Erzen said there is typically more “street crime” particularly near shopping centers and malls during the holiday season. “We use this money … to pay for the additional officers and overtime to patrol these areas,” he said.

dfowler@dcexaminer.com