NEWS/SPORTS
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2016
7A
Gull kickers
soar past
Aardvarks
The Daily Astorian
AP Photo/Ted S. Warren
Washington State Patrol troopers Jordan Berezay, left, and Timothy Kron, right, walk through the Capitol rotunda while
on security duty in February in Olympia, Wash.
System: ‘It’s gonna take a lot of
money and a lot of resources’
Continued from Page 1A
The report found that State
Patrol is also asking troopers to
fall back on their cell phones
when they encounter “dead
spots” — a serious concern for
troopers who work in areas with
poor cell reception.
Local WSP personnel
declined to comment, saying
they had been directed to refer
all inquiries about the audit to
the agency’s Olympia headquar-
ters, but other local law enforce-
ment leaders have had plenty to
say about P25.
“I think the decision to go
with the system they went with
was premature, and it was short-
sighted. And also a huge waste
of money,” South Bend Police
Chief David Eastham. “They
didn’t take into account the
troopers in rural areas, and com-
munications with local officers.”
Big decisions,
high stakes
State Patrol had to upgrade
its equipment. In 2004, the Fed-
eral Communications Com-
mission ordered U.S. public
safety agencies to switch from
traditional “wideband” radio
systems, to the newer “nar-
rowband” technology by Janu-
ary 2013, but WSP didn’t start
seriously working on switching
over until about 2010. By then,
FCC publications were promis-
ing “serious penalties, such as
monetary fines or license can-
cellation” for those who didn’t
meet the deadline, so State
Patrol leaders had to make a lot
of big decisions in very short
order.
The reasons for switching
to digital were sound. Its exist-
ing system consisted of an out-
dated “mix of older equipment
installed without an engineer-
ing study” that was “nearing
the end of its useful life.” Dig-
ital systems will be mandatory
within a few years, and they
also offer useful new features,
such as GPS technology.
However, State Patrol lead-
ers knew they would have to
make the change on a shoe-
string. In the early days of the
project, leaders told legislators
they might be able to complete
the job for as little as $40 mil-
lion, but even the allotted $53
million is a pretty modest bud-
get for updating thousands of
mobile and personal radios, as
well as dispatch consoles, radio
towers, receivers and repeaters
all over the state. Oregon spent
at least $230 million to upgrade
its system. Pierce County alone
spent $56 million, and King
County is in the midst of a
$270 million project, according
to the Auditor’s Office.
From zero to P25 in 12
years (and counting)
In 2010, State Patrol asked
for $60 million. The Legis-
lature approved a $53 mil-
lion budget, with $40 million
to be dispersed between 2011
and 2013, and the remainder
between 2013 and 2015.
Government bodies are usu-
ally required to solicit bids for
big projects, to ensure that they
get the lowest possible prices.
At first, WSP did plan to draft
a bid request. But in 2011, the
federal Department of Jus-
tice offered to let WSP “pig-
gyback” the P25 system on its
own “Integrated Wireless Net-
‘If they’re going to have even
less communication, what is
the logical purpose of it?’
David Eastham
South Bend police chief
work” — a Motorola radio sys-
tem that provides communica-
tions infrastructure for federal
agents, mostly along the state’s
major highway corridors. State
Patrol officials saw it as a way
to shave time off of the project,
and save about $12 million.
Their previous collaborations
with Justice had been success-
ful, and WSP wanted to pre-
serve the good relationship. So
in 2012, State Patrol decided to
merge with Integrated Wireless
Network, and awarded the con-
tracts for radios and infrastruc-
ture to Motorola without seek-
ing bids.
The decision was legal
because only Motorola offered
certain proprietary features
that WSP wanted, but audi-
tors concluded that it was not
in the best interests of taxpay-
ers, or public safety, because
it prevented State Patrol from
exploring other approaches and
products.
Making matters worse,
WSP did not obtain data about
the network’s actual capac-
ity, and “… did not recognize
upfront that Motorola’s pro-
posed system design would not
enable it to communicate with
some local law enforcement
agencies,” until after the con-
tracts were signed. When State
Patrol realized the significance
of these oversights in mid-
2012, it had to “significantly
revise” the project design, add-
ing more than $3 million to
the cost, and “… adding years
to the project, and shifting
responsibility for mitigating
coverage issues for a large part
of the system from Motorola to
the Patrol.”
Increasing liability
Project managers made the
decision despite considerable
opposition.
“Legislators, the WSP
Troopers Association, and
competing
vendors
all
expressed concerns about how
the Patrol’s radio narrowband-
ing project was planned, the
benefits of the merger with
the DOJ’s IWN system, how
the contract was awarded, and
whether more project funds
were needed for a successful
transition,” the audit said.
The FCC mandate to mod-
ernize public safety commu-
nications systems was largely
driven by a post-9/11 reali-
zation that responders need
to have reliable, shared, (or
“interoperable”) radio systems.
But ironically, by the time State
Patrol joined the network, feds
had already decided to stop
upgrading or expanding Inte-
grated Wireless Network, say-
ing it had failed to create a reli-
able interagency network, due
to an ineffective, fractured
structure, and unstable funding
sources. In 2007, federal audi-
tors said the network “… may
not be adequate in the event of
another terrorist attack or natu-
ral disaster that requires a coor-
dinated emergency response.
…”
Furthermore, state audi-
tors said, “… because of a
recent vendor protest, DOJ has
stopped purchasing services,
equipment and infrastructure
from Motorola.”
All dressed up and
nowhere to call
One of the big draws of
P25 was that it would allow
for “trunking,” a technology
that scans radio frequencies,
allowing officers to communi-
cate more or less seamlessly as
they move through both phys-
ical space and jurisdictions.
Legislators told SAO they
approved the project believing
it would maintain, or improve
upon existing coverage. Mer-
rill, the president of the Troop-
ers Association, said it hasn’t
worked out that way, because
the Motorola system was not
designed with the limited infra-
structure and remote, hilly ter-
rain of places like KM Moun-
tain, the Willapa Hills, or
Naselle in mind. While analog
traffic fades as the signal gets
worse, digital radio traffic just
abruptly blinks out, creating
“dead spots” that often overlap
with areas of poor or non-exis-
tent cell phone reception.
State Patrol electronics
expert Bob Schwent said WSP
installed two new local radio
sites and relocated another to
mitigate coverage problems,
but “there is
limited trunk-
ing capacity in
Naselle,” and
there are still
dead spots.
“One of the
biggest issues
Bob
that we have in
Schwent
District 8, and
particularly in the area around
Pacific County, is that there is
not a lot of existing infrastruc-
ture,” Schwent said.
Previous WSP requests for a
study of radio coverage across
the state had all been rejected,
so for P25 planning, the patrol
mostly relied on a cost-saving
combination of computer-gen-
erated “coverage forecasts”
that have accuracy issues in
hilly places, and limited on-the-
ground testing in specific spots.
Dead spots,
before and after
It’s hard to say exactly what
troopers in District 8, which
includes Pacific, Wahkiakum,
Grays Harbor, Clallam, Jeffer-
son, Kitsap and Mason coun-
ties, have experienced since
switching to P25 in late spring.
Citing security concerns, State
Patrol has been very circum-
spect about how coverage has
changed — when the Chinook
Observer requested a local proj-
ect report, State Patrol covered
the “before” and “after” maps
with big, black blocks of ink.
That report warned that it was
“important to note that some
specific issues will remain in
…” but the information about
what problems would persist,
and which parts of the district
they affected was redacted.
According to Schwent,
and spokesman Kyle Moore,
the majority of problems that
troopers have complained
about existed long before the
switch to P25. However, they
couldn’t say exactly which, or
how many local dead spots pre-
dated P25.
“We did not have a base-
line of the what the wideband
coverage was. We know his-
torically, that radio coverage
for that county for the patrol
has always been a problem,”
Schwent said. He and Moore
said it’s a common misconcep-
tion that P25 was supposed to
fix old problems, but that just
wasn’t realistic for their budget.
“The narrowbanding was
about responding to a fed-
eral requirement, and doing so
with what we had,” Schwent
explained. “In trying to
improve rural counties, the dif-
ferences in technology, the dif-
ferences in funding really cre-
ate some challenges.”
Merrill thinks WSP is
downplaying the extent of the
coverage loss.
“The agency maintains their
position that those were areas
that were without coverage
already. We’re saying, ‘That’s
not true’” Merrill said, add-
ing that in southwest Washing-
ton, “There are areas where we
don’t have cell phone recep-
tion, we don’t have email.”
SEASIDE — Seaside’s
relentless attack looked to
be in midseason form Tues-
day night at Broadway Field,
where the Gulls hosted Ore-
gon Episcopal in a nonleague
boys’ soccer game.
It was the season-opener
for the Gulls, who dominated
for 80 minutes and won 3-0.
Seaside outshot the vis-
itors 13-8 and scored twice
in the first half, while goal-
keeper Jesus Perez scored the
shutout in goal.
It took the Gulls a few
minutes to establish their
attack. An early shot on goal
by Juneau Meyer banged off
the left post for a miss.
But 9:39 into the contest,
Seaside scored its first goal
of the season when Jackson
Januik centered a pass to
Colton Carter, who
pounded the ball
into the net from
17 yards out.
Ensuing shots
on goal by Carter
and Henry Chap-
man were saved
Gull netters
improve to 2-0
The Daily Astorian
AURORA — After finish-
ing last season on a six-match
losing streak, the Seaside vol-
leyball team has now won two
straight to open 2016.
After defeating Warrenton
last week, the Gulls posted a
clean sweep Tuesday night at
North Marion, 25-19, 25-22,
Before P25, “We had their
channel, we could hear them.
If they got into a tight spot, we
could be en route without them
even knowing it, or we could
contact them,” Chief Eastham
said. “Now if they’re in trouble,
they have to contact their dis-
patch. Their dispatch contacts
our dispatch. Our dispatch con-
tacts us. Then the whole thing
happens in reverse.” Eastham
said it’s unnerving to think
troopers could be headed into
South Bend on a high-speed
pursuit, and he likely wouldn’t
be in the loop.
Since P25 went live, there
have been about three inci-
dents where South Bend cops
believed area troopers might
be in trouble, and didn’t have a
good way to communicate with
them. Fortunately, Eastham
said, the troopers have all
turned out to be fine so far. But
he wonders if there will even-
tually be a serious, prevent-
able incident. And he wonders
how the state got so deep into
a communications project that
has ultimately made it harder
for cops to communicate with
each other in many parts of the
state.
“If they go further into their
secret squirrel mode, yes, it will
affect the teamwork of troop-
ers and local law enforcement
officers,” Eastham said. “…
I would have to ask, ‘Why?
What is the point of this?’ If
they’re going to do this, if
they’re going to have even less
communication, what is the
logical purpose of it?
“We needed to go back to
the Legislature to try to secure
more funds to meet the needs
of the people who work on
the road,” Merrill said. “Now
we’re stuck between a rock
and a hard spot. What are we
gonna do? That’s the million
dollar question. It’s gonna take
a lot of money and a lot of
resources.”
25-10, in a nonleague match in
Aurora.
“We improved our consis-
tency and accomplished some
of the goals we set for tonights
game,” said Seaside coach
Angie Huntsman.
The Gulls host Rainier at
5 p.m. Thursday. Astoria will
play the Columbians at 7 p.m.,
also at Seaside.
Fishermen lose
opener at Catlin
The Daily Astorian
Playing telephone tag
by OES keeper Thomas
Hochman, before the Gulls
made it 2-nil in the 20th
minute.
A crossing pass from
Chapman caromed off team-
mate Hunter Thompson, and
the ball ended up at the feet
of Will Garvin, who scored
easily from close range.
Another
line
drive
attempt by Carter with 6:10
left in the first half was saved
by Hochman.
The Aardvarks managed
to outshoot the Gulls over the
final 40 minutes, but Perez
made two saves, while five
other attempts missed the
mark.
Meanwhile,
Seaside
tacked on goal No. 3 just
8:25 into the second half,
when Januik
dribbled
into
the
goal
box
and dropped
a short pass to
Thompson, who
scored his first goal of
the season.
Junior Varsity:
Seaside 5, OES 0.
PORTLAND — The
Astoria boys soccer team
opened the season Tues-
day at Catlin Gabel, a tough
3A/2A/1A squad coming
off a state quarterfinal
appearance in 2015.
And the Eagles are still
tough, as they soared past
the Fishermen 7-1 in a non-
league contest.
Astoria takes to the road
again Thursday, for a non-
league game at Corbett.
SCOREBOARD
PREP SCHEDULE
TODAY
Volleyball — Warrenton at Knappa, 6 p.m.
THURSDAY
Football — Alsea at Jewell, 7 p.m.
Volleyball — Rainier at Seaside, 5 p.m.; Rainier vs. Astoria, at Seaside, 7
p.m.; Clatskanie at Knappa, 6:30 p.m.
Girls Soccer — Rainier at Astoria, 6 p.m.; Seaside at North Marion, 4 p.m.
Boys Soccer — Astoria at Corbett, 6 p.m.; North Marion at Seaside, 7:30
p.m.
FRIDAY
Football — North Bend at Astoria, 7 p.m.; North Marion at Seaside, 7
p.m.; Knappa at Warrenton, 7 p.m.; Ilwaco at Nestucca, 7 p.m.
SATURDAY
Volleyball — Astoria at Southridge Tournament, TBA; Knappa at NKN
Tournament, 7 a.m.
Cross Country — Ultimook Invitational, 8:15 a.m.
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