Metro Police Having Problems With New Radio System

From the LVRJ: A traffic stop along a lonely road. A drag-out fight with a suspect. A foot chase through a dark alley.
Every day Las Vegas cops find themselves alone in dangerous situations where the radios on their hips are the only lifeline to fellow officers.
Many officers consider their radios the most important tools they carry, which is why beat cops throughout the Metropolitan Police Department are grumbling about the agency's new $40 million radio system.
Unveiled last summer, the Desert Sky digital system expanded channel capacities, enabled advanced data communications for in-car computers, and added other features that were unavailable on the agency's aging analog system.
Since then, the Police Department has worked with the radio provider, Harris Corp., to fix bugs, dead zones and other issues as they came up. But while most problems have been fixed, the cops who rely on the radios aren't satisfied, and some even worry the radios' lack of performance could get one of them hurt or killed.
When the topic came up at a recent patrol briefing, the room filled with groans, eye rolls and "best radio in the world" sarcasm. At times, cops frustrated by their radios have turned to cellphones to call dispatchers. Some officers joke that two tin cans and string might work better.
"Nobody's happy with it because, for police work, it does not work," said officer Laurie Bisch, a patrol veteran and two-time candidate for sheriff.
http://www.lvrj.com/news/police-griping-about-radios-129285968.html
This is the new world of the secret police. Most police scanners do not pick up police calls and so the cops in the Valley, including Henderson, North Las Vegas, Metro along with Nye County, can act without people watching them, unless something happens in their immediate neighborhood. Many times, the only way the public knows about a crime is when the cops put out a press release. And the media in town have just rolled over and accepted it without complaints because it makes their job easier.
Digital radio is dangerous and has been in most areas of the country that has tried it. Communities have even dropped digital and went back to the old fashioned way of dispatch- through analog.
Badger Blogger (http://badgerblogger.com/ ) has between all over this story and they have shown that these digital radios are a danger to those who use it, including the police and fire departments.
Welcome to the world of the secret police.