Communication for emergency personnel is imperative in instances such as Hurricane Katrina, 9/11 and the Feb. 14 shootings.

The DeKalb Police Department has taken steps to assure reliability.

In December 2007, DeKalb received the Prairie Shield Grant in the amount of $402,681. With the final agreements approved by city council on Aug. 23, the grant can now be used to complete the DeKalb Police Department’s radio system upgrade.

The Prairie Shield Grant is money from Homeland Security, funneled to the Illinois Terrorism Task Force which distributed it in the form of grants, said DeKalb Police Chief Bill Feithen. DeKalb received this grant and used it to purchase the new Starcom 21 communications network.

Feithen said this final piece in the project was a long time coming. The department was in the process of remodeling its communications room when it received the grant and decided to wait until the project was over before using it.

“The signing of the agreements was like putting a bow on a present,” Feithen said. “It was the last thing we needed to do because we had already received council approval to apply for the grant and do the radio room remodeling.”

Feithen said DeKalb used the grant to order 61 portable radios for officers and two radio counsels where dispatchers will sit.

“Basically we received a new radio system for that amount of money,” Feithen said. “We’re using the Starcom network that the state of Illinois and Motorola have partnered with and put together and they’re making that available to agencies.”

Feithen said the Starcom system is statewide, available not only to state agencies, but federal and local as well.

The move to systems like this came after seeing communication failures during the Feb. 14 shootings, as well as 9/11 and during Hurricane Katrina.

“With the new system, we will be able to communicate directly with the Illinois State Police and other state and local emergency agencies including the Illinois Terrorism Task Force, Secretary of State and Public Health,” Feithen said.

For example, Feithen said, if state police come to DeKalb to help with Homecoming events, they can now communicate on the same channel. Previous to having this system, DeKalb Police either sent one of their officers with the state police or gave them DeKalb Police radios in order to establish communication.

DeKalb Mayor Kris Povlsen said this system will improve communications.

“This technology will allow them to have more channels to go between the radio rooms and the squad cars more efficiently,” Povlsen said.

Additionally, the Starcom system also has encrypted radio channels that cannot be monitored.

“For example, if we’re working a drug case or doing surveillance, officers will be able to use the encrypted channels, Feithen said. “We will have eight channels, compared to the two that we currently have.”

Feithen said the system was already installed and the investigations unit has been using it for the past few months to test it.

“So far, it’s getting rave reviews,” Feithen said.

Feithen said others in the area are also interested in joining the system.

“Sycamore is interested and there have been inquiries by the county and NIU,” Feithen said. “This is the way things are moving, towards this new technology so I think they’ll be a part of this system eventually. When you’re talking about developing a statewide communications network and getting everybody on board, it takes time and money.”