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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (May 12, 2016)
3A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2016 Help could be slow to arrive for cops in need explained. “It showed that there were some pretty big gaps in our coverage. As part of that, our captain didn’t sign over until we could improve some things.” Washington’s new system complicates radio communications New equipment, mixed results By NATALIE ST. JOHN EO Media Group LONG BEACH, Wash. — In rural Paciic and Wahkiakum counties, there are frequent occasions when a very small group of cops from a mix of city, county and state agencies are on duty. When a call goes sideways, a major crime occurs, or a calamity happens, their differing jurisdictions and specialties take a back seat — they depend on each other. Recently, in response to a mandate from the Federal Communications Commission, the Washington State Patrol changed the radio communica- tions equipment that state police and dispatchers use, switching from an analog “wideband” system to a dig- ital “narrowband” system. The nar- rowband system, known commonly as “P25,” has the potential to be more reliable, and make it easier for dis- patchers to locate oficers. However, local agencies are still using the older analog system. When the new technology went live in late April, oficers at state agencies like Department of Fish and Wildlife, State Patrol and State Parks could still hear what was going on with local cops, but the local cops could no lon- ger hear them. Some cops, including Paciic County Sheriff Scott Johnson, are concerned that this communication gap could place oficers at greater risk. In a post on the Sheriff’s Ofice Facebook page, Johnson said a trafic stop last week that turned ugly high- lights the laws of the new system. “Those of you that liked listening to them on your scanners may have noticed you can no longer hear WSP. Worse yet, neither can law enforce- ment oficers from other agencies, including ours. This creates serious safety issues for the oficers on the street,” Johnson wrote. Photo by Bluedisk at English Wikipedia Washington state agencies including the State Patrol recently switched to a new “narrowband” communication system that is incompatible with local law enforcement dispatch services in Pacific County. Smaller slices of pie Radio communications are the heart of any emergency response sys- tem. Dispatchers use dedicated radio channels to relay information between callers and agencies, and monitor the status of responders. On-duty cops are also constantly monitoring the chatter on their radios, listening for any indication that another oficer is in need of backup. There is a inite amount of radio space available, however, and the country’s airwaves have gotten very crowded. About a decade ago, the FCC decided to free up more space. Picture a large group of hungry people, each clamoring for a piece of pie that has been cut into just six por- tions. Recognizing that there wasn’t enough pie to feed everyone — and that even smaller slices of pie would sell for a handsome price — the FCC decided to cut each of those slices in half. The FCC ordered most pub- lic safety agencies to switch from broad, 25 kHz-wide channels, to 12.5 kHz “narrowband” channels by 2013. According to a publication from the National Institute of Justice, a sec- ond phase could eventually cut each of those frequencies in half again, to 6.25 kHz. Costly upgrade Purchasing and installing narrow- band-compatible systems has proven hugely complicated and expensive. Deadlines for many large agencies have been repeatedly moved back, and smaller agencies have avoided making the switch. Converting the Paciic County Sheriff’s Ofice to narrowband would cost about $3,000 per radio, Sheriff Johnson said in an interview. Further complicating matters, police cars gen- erally need two radios to hear all the activity in their region, because some agencies use “Very High Frequency” systems, while others use “Ultra-High Frequency” systems. “We would be investing thousands of dollars per car in our secondary radio. We don’t have anywhere near close to enough money to do that,” Johnson said, adding that the county would also have to upgrade dispatch- ers’ equipment, at a cost of about $4,500 per location. Starting around 2011, Washing- ton State Patrol signed a contract with Motorola, purchasing about 5,000 new personal and car radios from the com- pany, according to a 2013 FCC doc- ument. State Patrol also had to install new radio towers in some areas, including Paciic County, as well as new equipment at dispatch stations. In all, the project cost about $41 mil- lion, according to a 2013 Vancou- ver Columbian article. It took several more years to get every patrol district in the state ready to use P25. “There was a study for the area to see what coverage was here,” Sgt. Bradford Moon, supervisor of State Patrol’s Naselle Detachment, Moon said going to P25 boosted reception in some places where it was very spotty before, and that commu- nications among state cops and dis- patchers have stayed the same or even improved. With P25, State Patrol can encrypt transmissions, although patrol lead- ers have told other media outlets they would do so only rarely. Moon said he does not think there has been any deliberate effort to keep citizens or other cops from listening — others just don’t yet have the equipment required to scan State Patrol’s frequency. “I could be calling assistance on this stop, and a deputy on the corner would have to wait until my dispatch calls his dispatch and asks for assis- tance,” Moon said. “That was the inci- dent the other night — I had a trooper asking for backup, and (local agency oficers) didn’t know about it until it was relayed through the dispatch centers.” Trafic stop gone wrong A surprising number of cops say that pulling people over is the most nerve-wracking part of their job. “Every time you contact a car, you don’t know who you’re contacting, or what they might have in their history,” Moon explained. “Sometimes it’s a grandma. Sometimes it a guy wanted for multiple crimes. You never know.” Last week, Trooper Chris Stell was patrolling near Naselle, when he saw a truck with a burned-out head- light around 8 p.m. He pulled the driver over. According to Stell’s prob- able cause statement, which the Chi- nook Observer obtained through a records request, the driver, Michael Sean Murphy, 54, allegedly got out of his pickup and charged toward Stell’s patrol car. “The driver appeared to be irate, with his hand clenched,” Stell wrote. Stell said he repeatedly ordered Mur- phy to get back in the car, but Murphy Tora Sushi employee arrested for sexually abusing co-worker The Daily Astorian 4 pm ‘til gone $8 .00 6PM “Karaoke Dave” AS TO RIA AM ERICAN LEGIO N Cla tso p Po st 12 1132 Excha n g e S treet 325-5771 • What draws them to teaching? • What are their successes? • What are their ___________________________ frustrations? Sarah Kangas, a physical education teacher at Warrenton Grade School Read the words of our region’s educators starting Friday in The Daily Astorian. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___ Friday May 13 th ___________________________ ___________________________________ With Baked Beans, Vegetables, Coleslaw and Cornbread ALA Dan Reed Teachers have a big job and a big impact ___________________________________ BBQ Pork Rib Dinner Maximo Cruz Figueroa learn of these situ- ations we become concerned about whether there may be other victims.” Astoria Police Deputy Chief Eric Halverson said. Any former co-workers or vic- tims that may have information regarding Cruz are encouraged to contact Detective Thomas Litwin at 503-325-4411 or by email at tlitwin@astoria.or.us. ‘It is not to the oficers’ advantage’ Neither Stell nor Murphy was injured, but in his Facebook post, Johnson said it could have turned out differently, and it took longer than it should have for help to arrive. “We work with them frequently and now we can’t hear what they say,” Johnson said in the interview. “It’s basically third-hand info, because it goes from the trooper to their dispatch to our dispatch to our (radios).” Johnson and Moon each acknowl- edged that local oficers will have to depend more on cooperation between state and local dispatchers for the fore- seeable future. “We’ve all known this was com- ing,” Moon said. “It just happens to be that some of these issues are coming to light because we’ve actually done the switchover now.” Asked whether he thought the dis- connect with local dispatchers had placed state cops at risk, Moon thought for a long moment before answering. A career in law enforcement is always characterized by numerous and con- stantly evolving challenges, he said, and a cop’s job is to igure out how to overcome them. “It is not to the oficer’s advantage to have to go that way,” Moon said. “However, this is one of the challenges that we’re faced with until we can ind a workaround, or other agencies are able to have the same capabilities.” W A NTED Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber N orth w es t H a rdw oods • Lon gview , W A Contact: Steve Axtell • 360-430-0885 or John Anderson • 360-269-2500 FAMILY OWNED & OPERATED ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___ An employee at Tora Sushi in Astoria was arrested Tuesday for sex abuse and harassment after allegedly touching a co-worker inap- propriately while training her. Maximo Cruz Figueroa, 31, of Seaside, is being charged with third-de- gree sex abuse and harass- ment with a sexual com- ponent. Astoria Police detectives received a report Friday from the 26-year- old victim, who had been hired at Tora Sushi the day before the incident. She reported the inappropriate touching. Management at Tora Sushi assisted with the inves- tigation, accord- ing to police, and placed Cruz on leave pending completion of the investigation. “Circumstances like this often go unreported to police for various reasons. When we kept coming, stopping only when he was a couple feet away. Murphy allegedly accused Stell of violating his civil rights, and announced that he was a federal marshal. “Murphy then attempted to turn me around and said he was placing me in custody for harassment …” Stell said. Stell pushed Murphy away. He was eventually able to coax Murphy to get back into his car and call for backup. 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