Montgomery Township Police's Radio Revolution

has become less independent – and saved some money at the same time.

On Jan. 30, the township police department became part of Montgomery County’s narrowband 800 megahertz trunking system, abandoning its private land mobile highband radio system.

Aside from a few kinks, everything is going very well, said township Deputy Chief Scott Bendig. Montgomery Township now shares radio space with Hatfield Township and other northwestern personnel in the county.

“The biggest thing to overcome was the transition to their frequency,” Bendig said. “The other thing was our 10-digit line had to go through the county radio system, and Verizon is out of our control. We had to wait for them to throw the switch and transfer the line.”

Before, dialing 215-362-2300 got a caller directly to Montgomery Township Police.

Now, that number will go straight to the Montgomery County Police Radio room.

The new township non-emergency and business line is 215-362-2301.

“One of the things we had to make sure of was to do it as seamless as possible,” Bendig said.

The changeover is something the board of supervisors discussed some time ago, he said.

“There was an indecision on the part of Montgomery County Commissioners,” Bendig said. “It was kind of a Catch-22. We had to wait until a decision was made with the county.”

He said the commissioners had to be “totally committed” to go in the direction the township police would be going.

“If we go to a different system, then, well, where are we going? We needed an answer to plan for an appropriate move and what we have to do,” Bendig said.

One reason for the change: the Federal Communications Commission.

According to the National Insitute of Justice, the Federal Communications Commission has mandated that all non-Federal public safety licensees using a 25-kilohertz-wide channel and radio system migrate to the narrowband 12.5 kilohertz channels by Jan. 1, 2013.

A second big reason for the change – and the driving factor behind it: $40,000 a year in savings.

“For the longest time, we had our own 9-1-1 system. We didn’t get the calls directly. If you call, Montgomery County would send the call to us via a system called an ICAD system,” Bendig explained. “We would get a message on our in-house screen and our dispatchers would dispatch.”

In 2009, the county dropped a bomb on Montgomery Township Police: if you want to keep the ICAD system, it’ll cost you $40,000 a year.

“The county discussed charging each municipality that received that service. If we wanted to maintain the way of doing business, we would have to pay a fee every year for the services of the system,” Bendig said. “The fee was prorated for the number of departments that used it. As more migrated to the county system, the dollar figure would go up and up.”

Now, expect more Montgomery Township Police incidents to come across the county scanner.

“We have over 1,000 accidents a year. It’s conceivable most would come through our 10-digit line, and the county would never know unless a fire company or ambulance was dispatched,” Bendig said.

Bendig assured that, while the method of radio communication has changed, the level of service to township residents has remained the same. The township police station will still serve as a Live Scan center and jail.

“Citizens will not see any difference in service, as far as officers responding to calls. The only thing that will be different is the person answering the 2300 line,” he said.

Before, 9-1-1 calls would come directly from the county, and then be shipped to each officer’s car radio.

Now, every call the county gets for the township will come directly to officers on their radios. Incidents will also be sent to officers’ computers in their cars.

“This gives us a lot of latitude, in regard to operational methods and requesting for assistance,” Bendig said. “We can now go into different jurisdictions and seamlessly communicate with them. It’s a win-win for everybody all around.”