State Police reports progress in consolidating radio communications operations

From Illinois Business Journal news services

SPRINGFIELD — Illinois State Police says it has made progress in the agency’s multi-phase radio communications consolidation plans designed to unify technological resources and reduce radio operating costs.

District 7 (East Moline) radio will tentatively consolidate into the District 1 (Sterling) communications center beginning Sept. 1. The District 7 consolidation is the first of three districts in this phase. District 16 (Pecatonica) and District 17 (LaSalle) will also become part of a four-district communications center at Sterling. Existing facilities are being utilized for this consolidation.

The ISP is adding a third telecommunications workstation at Sterling with improved functionality and inter-operability to handle additional communications needs at an estimated cost of $40,000. Staffing at Sterling is predicted to reach optimal levels following the final stage of consolidation, which will reduce long-term overtime costs.

The ISP began communication consolidations in 2012 by combining radio communications at District 13 (DuQuoin) for District 19 (Carmi), District 12 (Effingham) and District 22 (Ullin).

The ISP’s final communications objective will consolidate 20 statewide communications centers into six centers located in Chicago, Springfield, Pontiac, Collinsville, DuQuoin and Sterling.

The Collinsville, DuQuoin, Pontiac and Springfield consolidations are complete and have proven capable of handling ISP radio traffic from neighboring districts, ISP said.

Impact negotiations this week between ISP and union representatives from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees resulted in agreements regarding “reasonable relocation accommodations for affected employees,” ISP said in a statement.

ISP communications centers are separate from local 911 emergency centers and will not have an impact on local emergency operations, the agency said.