Law enforcement says public safety communication system is putting lives at risk

• Video shows Thomas Whitaker, Director of 911 and Emergency Management, Hillsdale County Sheriff, Scott Hodshire, and Mike Lance, Director of Public Safety for the City of Jonesville.
• These local leaders say their current public safety communication system is antiquated and inefficient, causing concern among law enforcement.
• On August 6, the ballot will propose a new tax to cover the cost of the 800-MHz state system, Michigan’s Public Safety Communications System.

"I believe if this doesn't pass...lives will be lost," says Thomas Whitaker, Director of 911 and Emergency Management, referring to their current public safety communication system. He and Hillsdale County Sheriff, Scott Hodshire and Jonesville Director of Public Safety, Mike Lance, say the current system is antiquated and inefficient. "We're really talking about people's lives," says Lance.
The count currently uses what's called a VHF system, which leaders say experiences dead zones and static issues, which prohibit dispatch from being able to communicate efficiently. Hodshire says this issue can cause law enforcement to be working blindly in emergency situations, as they cannot communicate with their current system. He says, "It's taking precious minutes off of fighting for someone's life or getting an ambulance there that much faster."

They hope to join a state system, Michigan’s Public Safety Communications System, that would allow Hillsdale law enforcement to call for help from neighboring counties if a major incident were to happen. After several attempts to secure funding, local leaders are taking this issue to the ballots in August.

Lance says, "If we can't talk to people and get the help that we need, it's a detriment to people trying to say whether we're going to their house for a medical emergency, or responding to an accident scene or a fire scene."

This new system will cost the County $16 million, costing the average tax payer in the county about $50 a year.

"I feel within the next 10 years, VHF will not be around, so we will have to go to another 800 (MHz) system, which by that time is probably going to triple in cost," says Hodshire. A cost and a benefit that voters will weigh in the coming months.

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