VIDEO: New Digital Radios For Lowndes County Sheriff’s Department

LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI)- Communication is key for law enforcement officials. Any type of interference can be detrimental to an officer’s safety.

Lowndes County Sheriff’s Department has installed a new radio system to insure that communication stays strong in all situations.

The new radios run on a digital signal which means not only is there more quality but it truly goes the distance.

The new system is called, Mississippi Wireless Communication System and it’s quite an improvement from the previous radio system.

“The old system worked on a repeater type thing, there were repeaters placed up in the county, you did not have the best of service. It was staticky in a bunch of places and a lot of areas within our county we had zero communications,” says Chief Deputy Marc Miley.

No communication could mean life or death for an officer an issue they no longer have to worry about.

“If our officer gets in trouble and for some reason can’t get to his radio, he can push a button on his walkie or on his car radio and it sends an alert signal back to the other officers and to dispatch saying that ‘I need help’ so that’s a great thing too,” says Miley.

These radio systems have been tested all the way from Champagne, Illinois to the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, this kind of connection is especially important in the event of a natural disaster.

“If a natural disaster happened, let’s say a tornado came through and knocked out our towers our radio communications went to zero,” says Miley.

But that’s not the case with the new system.

“If our communication system was to be knocked out, the Mississippi Wireless Communication would immediately fly us in here, by helicopter, radios that would work,” says Miley.

Ensuring communication even in the worst of times.