TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Sept. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Florida’'s Statewide Law Enforcement Radio System (SLERS) weathered two major hurricanes, operating successfully during Hurricanes Charley, Frances and their aftermath, according to state law enforcement officials. Supplied by M/A-COM, Inc., a business unit of Tyco Electronics, the single, state-of-the-art common radio network continues to showcase Florida as a leader in the nation for state law enforcement communications.
“The strength and quality of the Statewide Law Enforcement Radio System were clearly demonstrated during the recent hurricanes,” said State Chief Information Officer Simone Marstiller. “The system maintained operational status throughout these devastating storms.”
While local systems and cell phone systems were failing at the height of the storms, the Statewide Law Enforcement Radio System continued to operate. When the local law enforcement agencies were unable to communicate, all of the state’'s law enforcement agencies were communicating on the SLERS system, which worked continuously throughout the storm.
“M/A-COM’'s disaster and pre-event planning allowed for immediate response to system issues as soon as the teams could safely enter an area,” said Guy Tunnell, executive director of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. “The preparation and response kept the SLERS system operating before, during and after the event. This permitted the various agencies to communicate and the officers to be safer, as they performed their storm related duties in an extremely difficult environment.”
“All of the time, energy and planning that the state put into its SLERS network paid off during the recent hurricanes,” said Fred Dickinson, executive director of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Chairman of the SLERS Taskforce. “The statewide 800MHz system worked extremely well for the beleaguered state responders. The strength of M/A-COM, its products and operations teams was clearly demonstrated throughout these two events.”
The statewide 800MHz system has established a single, unified radio network to meet the radio communications needs of state law enforcement officers throughout the state of Florida. This collaboration of 14 state agencies is estimating the entire project covering all counties in the state will be completed in 2005. The state of Florida is expected to save approximately $622 million over 20 years.