A new U.S. law could force towns, cities and a regional radio network to spend millions of dollars in the next decade to replace police and fire communication equipment, some of which was bought recently to comply with a previous federal mandate.
While Congress has promised grants to cover the cost, representatives of the Boston Area Police Emergency Radio Network fear there will not be enough federal money to foot the potentially steep bill. If not, the mandate could jeopardize the 40-year-old, 153-member regional system, its leaders said.
“It’s something we’re very, very concerned about,” said Brookline Police Chief Daniel O’Leary, chairman of the Greater Boston Police Council, which oversees the network. “It takes what we’ve built, what we’ve kept up, what we’ve improved upon and we’re now expanding on and everyone is utilizing, and strips it away from us.”
Westborough Police Chief Alan Gordon said it is unclear what frequency the department must use to meet the law.
It could be a matter of reprogramming all the radios. But if the new frequency is not compatible with existing equipment, the department would have to buy new radios, costing several hundred thousand dollars, Gordon said.
“It would be a major impact,” Gordon said of replacing radios. “This mandate better be a funded mandate.”
The new mandate is a little-known part of a bill Congress passed in February to extend a payroll tax cut and continue emergency unemployment benefits.
The law requires public safety agencies with radios that broadcast on frequencies of 470-512 MHz to move to new airwaves within 11 years. The government plans to auction that spectrum to help pay for the tax cut and jobless benefits, as well as the eventual creation of a nationwide, high-speed data and voice communication network for first responders.
Proceeds from the auction also will go toward grants for the cost of relocating to new airwaves, the law said. But the Boston-area network’s officials said no one knows yet what those costs could be, and with no specific dollar figure in the law, they fear the grants will fall short of the full bill.
First responders in about 190 towns, cities and counties in eastern Massachusetts operate on the affected spectrum, known as the T-band, for local police and fire radio transmissions, according to a Federal Communications Commission database.
Milford Fire Chief John Touhey said the law impacts only one of the department’s two frequencies.
Touhey said the town will need to obtain a new license from the FCC, but most of the equipment should be compatible.
“It’s coming,” Touhey said of the legislation. “I’m sure there will be some tweaking of the process as we go forward.”
Most of the affected departments are within the Interstate 495 loop, said Stephen Voorhees, co-owner of an Ashland radio dealer that works with many local departments.
The law affects other metropolitan areas, including Chicago, New York City and Los Angeles, Voorhees said.
“It affects major areas of the United States and it’s pretty comprehensive,” he said.
Chicago leaders have asked the FCC for guidance on the new law, saying even with federal funding, it could mean “extreme harm and threat” to the city without a viable new spectrum to use.
O’Leary said Bay State officials will likely write a similar letter.
Framingham Police Chief Steven Carl said his department upgrades portable and car radios every five to six years and dispatch radios every 10 years. So this could force the department to move up a purchase by a year or two, he said.
The FCC typically says the useful life of radio equipment is seven to 10 years, but the Boston-area network’s engineer, David Troup, said many departments rely on their systems for 10 to 15 years if they hold up.
The new mandate also could render some recent radio improvements obsolete, including federally-funded upgrades to first responder communications after 9/11.
“It’s like money down the drain,” Troup said, adding it could cost millions to comply with the new law.
Some towns and cities also recently upgraded their radios or are doing so now because of an earlier order from the FCC to switch portable radios that broadcast on a bandwidth of 25 kHz to a more efficient 12.5 kHz by January 2013. The change, known as “narrowbanding,” was meant to clear up congestion on the airwaves.
In late April, the FCC temporarily waived the 2013 deadline for public safety agencies, saying the new mandate Congress passed in February could require further changes.
The Boston-area network is telling members to proceed with narrowbanding by June, O’Leary said. This is partly because radio systems that broadcast on different bandwidths have different volumes, making it difficult to communicate with each other, Troup said.
“It’s a huge mess,” Troup said of the new requirement. “I’m not sure what the answer is.”
David Riley can be reached at 508-626-4424 or driley@wickedlocal.com. Brian Benson can be reached at 508-626-3964 or bbenson@wickedlocal.com.