THUNDER BAY -- The city’s police chief warns there could be a “catastrophic” breakdown if the force’s radio system isn’t replaced soon.
That’s what J.P. Levesque told the Thunder Bay Police Services Board at their monthly meeting, which was held Tuesday morning at the Balmoral Street Station.
The current system, which has been in use for about a decade, will no longer have manufacturer support at the end of 2017. The replacement would include infrastructure, software as well as mobile and portable radios.
It would come at a cost of nearly $1 million in each of the 2016-2018 annual capital budgets, a request the city finance department has flagged as part of preparations for upcoming budget deliberations.
Instead, it’s a request the city has tentatively looked at deferring until 2018.
However, Levesque insists delaying the process would come with a “serious officer and public safety risk.”
“It really is a real problem from a public safety standpoint,” he said in an interview following the meeting.
“We’ve been having problems with some of our portables and software. We’re already having difficulty with the supplier not making or carrying components. We’ve been able to patch things together up to now but my concern is we’re going to reach a point where we can’t patch things together.”
The police service is not alone in dealing with the soon to be out of date issue as Levesque said Thunder Bay Fire Rescue also needs to upgrade their system.
He added the two services are exploring the possibility of finding some savings by bulk ordering radios through the same supplier.
The board unanimously voted to endorse the funding proposal outlined in the report.
Levesque is scheduled to appear before city council at the Feb. 11 budget deliberation meeting where he will speak to them about the urgency of moving forward with the upgrade.
