Wireless radio project will improve public safety county wide

Pima County, Ariz. – In 2008, a 25-year-old man led police and sheriff's deputies on a zig-zag car chase that began on thenorthwest side of Tucson and ended on Mount Lemmon, with one Tucson Police officer fatally wounded and two Pima County Sheriff's deputies injured. The two deputies survived. Throughout that deadly chase, police and deputies weren't able to talk to each other on the same radio frequency.

The incident highlighted a serious flaw in emergency communications that is now being corrected by Pima County. The outdated radio systems being used by most first responders will be old news by 2013, when the county's new public safety Wireless Integrated Network, funded by bonds approved by voters in 2004, is expected to begin operation. Read more...