By: Donovan W. Mann – [email protected]
Humboldt, IA – The new communication system soon to be active for Humboldt law enforcement.
Humboldt County Police Sheriff Dean Kruger tells KHBT that the new radio and communication for dispatch law enforcement is about to be up and running. He says the new system is a 700 megahertz system that the state of Iowa has begun to implement.
Sheriff Kruger says the old system was damaged due to a lightning strike back in 2017 that cause most of the communication systems in the department to go down. The 911 service did not get harmed because of the strike the Sheriff says.
Sheriff Kruger says at the time Electronic Engineering, the departments radio provider out of Fort Dodger, was able to give a temporary fix. The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors decided to move forward to the new system and entered a contract with the state to begin the process.
Sheriff Kruger says the process was lengthy and had multiple delays. Part of the reason for delays was miscommunication between the vendor and the tower company he says. Another delay was a ground study to assure the signal tower was up to par and could hold the equipment. Sheriff Kruger says the tower did need some reinforcement.
According to Sheriff Kruger the biggest improvement with the new system will be better coverage for the portable radios. He says officers used to get about 5 to 6 miles out of the city and there would already be problems getting reached on the portable radios. Sheriff Kruger does say the mobile radios, the ones in the department vehicles, where always strong. He even says the dispatchers should be able to go down to Iowa City and still be reached.
While at the moment it will only be law enforcement on the new system, Sheriff Kruger says he has been working with local area fire departments and ambulance services as well as the Board of Supervisors on getting upgraded to the new system as well.
“We’re working with the Board of Supervisors; we’re trying to get the basic needs for fire departments and the ambulance serve. Like I always said you can’t put a price on someone’s life. If we can’t page out these people to save someone’s house, we have some trapped people. You just can’t put a dollar amount on it” the Sheriff says.
He also says “me myself I just want something that’s going to work, and I want these firemen to be able to respond and the ambulance people to respond”.
Sheriff Dean Kruger did not have a firm date on when the system would go active for law enforcement but expects that it should be ready by the end of February or early March.