Jan. 04--It will soon be easier for the Polk County, Wis., sheriff's office to communicate with law enforcement agencies in Minnesota.
The department is getting an Allied Radio Matrix for Emergency Response, or ARMER, radio through a grant from the state of Minnesota, said Jill Stoffel, communications administrator for the Polk County sheriff's office.
Washington County sponsored Polk County's application for the grant, which is meant to increase "interoperability across borders," Stoffel said.
Dean Tilley, radio system manager for the Washington County sheriff's office, said the department has struggled to communicate with Wisconsin agencies during some public safety incidents.
Tilley said the grant was federal money adminstered by the state of Minnesota
The radio costs about $5,000, Stoffel said, and will allow the Polk County sheriff's office to communicate with Minnesota agencies on a frequency of 800 MHz.
"Currently we are on a VHF system, and most of the counties in Minnesota are on this 800 (MHz) system," said Stoffel. "If we have a chase or some type of an event that goes across state lines, right now we're in a predicament of how to get everybody on the same channel."
The St. Croix County, Wis., sheriff's office already has the capability to patch together communications across state lines, Sheriff John Shilts said Wednesday.
Copyright 2012 - Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.
