MEDIA, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — Delaware County is rolling out a new 911 system. Officials said the multimillion-dollar project is all about communication and efficiency.
In 2020, officials in Delaware County realized they had a problem with their 911 radio system.
“It was not reacting in certain dead areas,” said Delaware County Council chair Richard Womack. “It was hindering some of the police officers, and emergency responders were not able to connect with our 911 center.”
In addition, Womack said hackers were able to compromise the radios, using vulgar language and playing loud music over the system.
Over the last five-and-a-half years, Womack said the county has invested $38 million into upgrading the system, with a new communication tower and 3,500 portable radios for first responders.
“This is a project we knew had to be done,” he said, “because we knew if we did not do it, there was great risk not only to our first responders, but also to the public.”
The new system went fully operational late last week, and Womack said the county has already gotten a lot of positive feedback from their call center, as well as their first responders.
“The radios act a lot quicker, the response time has been great and we don’t have a lot of the interference that we were getting from the old radios,” he said. “They feel comfortable with the radio and they feel everything is more safe than it has been.”