Immediate Release: PUBLIC PRESSURE BY SERVICE WORKERS AUTHORIZE VOTE FOR UPGRADED POLICE RADIOS

[Omaha Steve]

For Immediate Release: January 14, 2010
Contact: Matt O'Connor, CSEA/SEIU Local 2001

PUBLIC PRESSURE BY MIDDLEBURY SERVICE WORKERS MOVES FINANCE BOARD TO
AUTHORIZE VOTE FOR UPGRADED POLICE RADIOS

Members of the police officers' union urging town leaders to provide
voters the opportunity to support the long-overdue upgrade for their
failing public safety communications system

MIDDLEBURY—Following months of outreach to bring attention to the
dangers posed by their department's faulty radios, Middlebury's police
officers are reacting to last night's vote by the Board of Finance to
approve a recommended overhaul. Members of CSEA/SEIU Local 2001, which
represents the Town's police officers and other municipal employees,
attended last night's meeting with the hope the board would recommend
the bond for a new public safety communications system.

"This improvement is critically needed for the safety of residents,
the public at-large, and our members" Al Cronin, the president of the
Union's chapter that represents Middlebury police officers, said.
"Effective communications are the cornerstone of law enforcement, and
our aging system is not up to the task and needs to be replaced" he
added.

Last night's four to two vote by the board approved up to $2.7 million
for a recommended upgrade supported by the Police Commission and
championed by the Department's Chief. The new system also received the
unanimous support of Middlebury's Board of Selectmen last July, and
the officers are recommitting their support for a public referendum on
the issue now that it has finance board approval.

"The time for analyzing the data, assigning blame, and pointing
fingers has passed" Cronin continued. "That is why we are pleased that
the finance board has decided to act" he concluded.

Since July of 2009, members of the Union have engaged in a high
profile effort to build support for upgrading the police department's
faulty communications system. Residents have responded to their road
signs, informational leaflets, and comments in the press with concern
and strong support for decisive action that puts public safety first.

The officers plan to continue their outreach efforts in order to
generate a positive response from Middlebury residents in the upcoming
referendum on the bond for upgrading the department's radios.

CSEA/SEIU Local 2001 represents 25,000 active and retired public
sector workers serving in state and municipal agencies, as well as
local school districts across Connecticut. Visit www.seiu2001.org
online for more information about how the Union's members are working
to support quality public services for our children, our families, and
our communities.

# # #

[Wilms]

1. Careful what you wish for.

I recently became aware that firefighters are having grave difficulty with speech intelligibility of the newer digital systems.

What I learned goes way deeper than I feel able to post about.

The link below references a test that showed the above for-mentioned speech intelligibility problem.

(.pdf) http://www.npstc.org/documents/technical_brief_200808.pdf