Victoria’s Radio Failed Again—Or Maybe Not

Police officials in Victoria (BC) say that their regional radio system did not fail when an officer encountered a man waving a handgun in an apartment building, but had a strange explanation for their claim.

The previous day, a police official said the officer tried to use his portable radio on the Capital Region Emergency Services Telecommunications (CREST) radio system, but couldn’t make contact when calling for help. He eventually used a cellular phone to request back-up from dispatchers.

The radio system has been under critical review by police officers who say the system’s coverage is poor, especially underground and inside buildings.

CREST officials say the Motorola, 140 MHz trunked radio system was designed to provide 97 percent coverage. It was installed in 2003 for about $17 million.

New antenna sites have been added to the system, including one in the downtown area last July.

In this latest incident, the officer was at a low-income doing community outreach work. As he stood with other tenants, a man came out of his apartment holding a handgun and yelled, “Get the hell out of here.”

The man then went back into his apartment. According to Sgt. Grant Hamilton right after the incident occurred, the officer tried to use his portable radio, but it had no coverage.

“The officer had to resort to his cellphone for a 9-1-1 call asking for backup,” Hamilton told a reporter.

Other officers arrived and the man was safely talked out of his room.

One day later, Victoria police officials had another version of the incident.

Spokesperson Marnie Mayhew said, “It wasn’t a case of the radio system failure. What happened, in the course of how things unfolded yesterday, there was a weapon involved and the officer had to withdraw quickly. He asked a couple of members of the Vancouver Island Community Outreach Team who were with him to call it in.”

Mayhew continued, “The officer followed up with a call on his cell. I guess it was a time issue because of what was going on and the seriousness of it. He didn’t even have an opportunity to reach for his portable and use it.”

She was unaware if the responding officers had any radio problems when they arrived at the scene. She did say, “We still have ongoing concerns from the department about the system.”

After that statement, Hamilton would only say, “We have to do a review. We have to listen to the audio dispatch tapes to sort out what happened.”