Santa Barbara County Grand Jury • 2016-2017 • Agency Response
Response to: PUBLIC SAFETY RADIO COVERAGE: Is Our Safety at Risk

Received Sep 2 6 2017*

Published: August 07, 2017 3 pages
View Original PDF

Findings and Recommendations 4 findings

F1
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office has radio dead spots in the Casmalia and Tanglewood areas that threaten public safety. The Sheriff agrees with the finding.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
That the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office ensure that the radio tower scheduled to service the Casmalia and Tanglewood areas be installed as soon as possible. The recommendation will be implemented. There are two projects planned for these areas. Both projects will be completed in FY 2017-18. Installation of an Operations Frequency 2 receive only repeater at the Arellanes school site will address the Tanglewood area. Installation of an Operations Frequency 1 transceiver site on San Antonio Peak will cover Casmalia, Tanglewood and western Santa Maria area including the new Northern Branch Jail site.
F2
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office has radio dead spots in the Santa Maria Valley that threaten public safety. The Sheriff partially disagrees with the finding. The majority of the Santa Maria Valley has adequate radio communication for Santa Barbara County public safety operations.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
That the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office complete the radio tower, proposed for Mount Solomon, as soon as possible. The recommendation will be implemented. This project will begin in FY 2017-18 and is expected to be completed by the end of FY 2020-21. The project will enhance coverage in Santa Maria and the Highway 101 corridor south of Santa Maria. In addition as noted above the work completed in Recommendation 1 will also enhance the radio coverage in the western Santa Maria area.
F3
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Deputies in the Cuyama area are operating in a rural area with extremely poor radio communications. The Sheriff partially disagrees with the finding. Approximately two-thirds of Cuyama Valley has adequate coverage. An additional site in the Cuyama area would provide stronger signals and more complete coverage.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
That the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office join with the Santa Barbara County and Ventura County Fire Departments in the installation of a radio tower to be located in Kern County that will ensure that all agencies are able to communicate throughout the Cuyama area. The recommendation will not be implemented. There are several options, not involving Kern or Ventura counties. Options include establishing a new transmission site in Santa Barbara County at Fire Station 41, on a more elevated platform utilizing privately owned property, or develop the Pelato Peak site, which would be the most effective solution to provide coverage for the Cuyama area.
F4
Most public safety agencies in Santa Barbara County are not using the 700 MHz radio band. The Sheriff agrees with the finding.
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
That Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors upgrade all Santa Barbara County public safety radios to the 700 MHz band as recommended by the Federal Communications Commission and the State of California. The recommendation will not be immediately implemented. The County has started a comprehensive Public Radio System Upgrade Project. An RFP was issued and we are currently evaluating the responses to determine the most qualified telecommunication vendor. The selected vendor will identify the County's needs while maintaining connectivity with its mutual aid partner's. Moving to the 700 MHz band option will be one of several options under consideration. This is a long-term, multi-year project that will require substantial analysis and funding.

* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.