School Police Expands Communications Network

A multi-year expansion of the Cherokee County School District Police Department's two-way communication network is now complete. 

The department started the expansion following an independent review by consultants requested by Superintendent Dr. Frank Petruzielo from National School Safety and Security led by Kenneth Trump in 2006, which recommended making enhancements to further improve communications, especially in emergencies. 

One of the first priorities was to improve the ability of bus drivers to communicate when transporting students to and from school. Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, or SPLOST, funds approved for radio enhancements were used to upgrade the existing 800MHz system by relocating the tower site to a higher vantage point and adding two repeaters.  

The money was also used to allocate a designated radio programmed with a unique identifier at each school to be used in the event of an emergency or the loss of telephone or cellular communication. 

With no room for growth on the existing frequency, and with schools using two different frequency bands, it was impractical for interoperability with other local public safety agencies to occur. 

As a result, the district submitted applications to the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) for new frequencies in the UHF band allowing for a state-of-the-art digital radio system to be created with the intent to improve school-based communication and allow school police to effectively communicate with other local public safety agencies.  

Once the licensing was approved, the district used annual lease fees from a national communication provider to purchase digital hand-held UHF radios for all school-based administrators and reallocated a large number of UHF radios to the majority of the schools; at that time, only 10 elementary schools continued to use the existing VHF frequency band.  

Through acquisition of a federal grant, the district continued build-out of the digital radio system. New features and capabilities include: 

• Near 96 percent in-building radio coverage of all CCSD buildings;
• Police units are equipped with three radios covering the major public safety bands with the capability of communicating with any public safety agency at the local, state and federal levels; 
• Mobile Data Terminals (MDTs) are installed allowing access to GCIC/NCIC information from the GBI and FBI and wanted persons, stolen property and tag and driver’s license information. The terminal also allows access to mapping software, building diagrams and emergency plans of each school along with aerial and interior photos and a number of other communication technologies;
• GPS tracking via the radio system of all buses and police units allowing real-time location on a live map display;
• School police supervisory personnel can communicate directly to the Cobb County and Bartow County School districts on their radio systems;  
• All digital radios have the ability to talk to any other radio in CCSD;
• The Cherokee County E-911 Center broadcasts lookouts and certain other types of calls to school police officers over their radio system providing situational awareness of incidents near schools that might affect school safety and operations;
• The Cherokee Sheriff’s Office Mobile Command Vehicle and 911 Center can patch any agency radio or phone call to the school police radio system, as needed, during an emergency or crisis;       
• The Cherokee Sheriff’s Office Mobile Command Vehicle has the ability to talk directly with each local school, as needed, during a school-based emergency or crisis; and,
• CCSD participates in the Cherokee County ARES/RACES (Amateur Radio Emergency Services/Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Services) organization, providing radio capability on amateur bands directly to Georgia Emergency Management Agency, the National Weather Service and to amateur radios across the country and around the world.

Future plans for the department's communications enhancements include establishment of a Cherokee County School District Emergency Operations Center to provide a central location for communication, command and control during an emergency.  

This center would have the same radio capabilities as both the district Police and Transportation Dispatch centers and would interact with the Cherokee Emergency Operations Center as needed.  Another goal is to centralize district Police and Transportation Dispatch Centers to further improve information sharing and response times.