Ill. responders test Starcom21 radio system
Rift emerges after city breaks away from county-based dispatching system.
By M.K. Guetersloh
The Pantagraph
N.M. county talks 911 dispatch Ind. agencies discuss joint 911
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — McLean County Board members will learn next month about the results of a test of the Starcom21 radio system at State Farm Insurance Cos. buildings.
The results of the test, which came after a July 3 incident at the insurer’s headquarters, will be discussed next month by the County Board’s justice committee. The tests were conducted by the McLean County Sheriff’s Department, one of several agencies that responded to a false report of a gunman at the Headquarters near East Washington Street and Veterans Parkway.
The sheriff’s department and several other agencies use the Starcom 21 radio system, which justice committee Chairman Tari Renner said is guaranteed to work in about 95 percent of the area to be covered.
The department tested 24 places at State Farm, including the basement, which has been previously described by police as a "concrete bunker." Renner said there were four places where the radios had problems and two were solved with repeaters.
A full discussion of the report is expected to be at the Aug. 5 meeting of the justice committee.
Radio communication between the county sheriff’s deputies, Normal police and Bloomington police has been the topic of several recent discussions. Normal and McLean County are on Starcom 21, a statewide system that allows officers from multiple jurisdictions to talk to one another, but Bloomington is on a separate radio system.
The discussion between the county, Normal and Bloomington about Starcom 21 comes during an ongoing rift over Bloomington’s decision to leave the county-based Metcom emergency dispatching system and create its own.
Renner, who opposed Bloomington leaving Metcom, is running for mayor of Bloomington.
After meeting to discuss communication problems encountered at the July 3 incident, Bloomington Police Chief Roger Aikin, McLean County Sheriff Mike Emery and Normal Police Chief Kent Crutcher issued a statement that was sent to Bloomington and Normal’s mayors and council members.
"The group came to an agreement that a communication protocol between the law enforcement agencies and fire departments will be developed. The protocol would be for use in any multi-agency incident in the future," the statement said.
Emery and Crutcher complained after what ended up being an unintended exercise that Bloomington officers inside the building were unable to communicate with emergency responders outside. More than 100 officers responded to the incident.
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