| Chief of Police Armand P. La Barge |
| York Regional Police |
| 17250 Yonge Street, Newmarket, Ontario, Canada L3Y 4W5 1866-8POLICE TTY 1-800-668-0398 Fax 905-853-5810 www.yrp.ca |
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THE REGIONAL MUNICIPALITY OF YORK POLICE SERVICES BOARD REPORT OF THE CHIEF OF POLICE 23 JANUARY 2008 __________________________________________ Re: York Regional Police Communication System Cost Recovery Agreements __________________________________________ RECOMMENDATIONS
York Regional Police operate and maintain a voice radio system which is also used by all the Region's municipal fire services and a data radio system which, at present, is used exclusively by the police. The voice radio system also provides interoperability capability between York Regional Police, the municipal fire services, York Region Emergency Medical Services supervisors and the Region's Emergency Management Department. At present, no service level agreements or provision for the sharing of costs exist. It is recommended that the Board authorize the system to be used by Departments of the Regional Municipality of York and that cost sharing agreements between the existing and future users be entered into. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS York Regional Police Financial Services has calculated a formula in response to a potential cost sharing agreement with York Region Public Works and the various Municipal Fire Services. Factored into this formula were the cost of annual maintenance, service contracts, licences, and equipment. Given these inputs, the percentage of usage per agency is based upon the number of radios in use and York Regional Police's total annual costs of maintaining the system. Using these variables, a figure of $632.73/radio was calculated with only the existing users and approximately $467.59/radio assuming addition of other Regional users. This would result in a total recovery of $385,280 using only existing services or $565,343 assuming the addition of other Regional users. This calculation does not include the costs of having implemented the original system; however, as York Regional Police moves towards implementing an entirely new Voice Radio System prior to the current systems end of life in 2014, the capital costing for such a system will be factored into future calculations. The cost sharing, with regards to infrastructure maintenance is based upon each agencies usage, reflected as a percentage, of the total user equipment. This cost-sharing process is a viable method of financing critical communication system infrastructure and ensuring that it continues to meet user's needs in the future. Currently, the York Regional Police 2008 proposed Operating Budget does not cite potential recovery fees from agency partners such as the Municipal Fire services, Emergency Medical Services or other York Regional departments and they have not included the necessary funds within their budgets. With this in mind, it is therefore recommended that consideration for implementation of the cost recovery schedule be initiated in the 2009 budget for the aforementioned agencies. BACKGROUND Public safety grade radio systems are a key element contributing to the safety of the public, police officers, fire-fighters and other emergency personnel. York Regional Police currently operates a Motorola Smartnet II Trunking Radio System and a Dataradio private data radio system. Since 2001 the trunking radio system has also been the primary voice radio communication system used by all the municipal fire services within York Region. In addition, the system provides voice radio inter-operability between the Region's Emergency Medical Services Department, Emergency Management Department, the fire services and York Regional Police. The radio system consists of eight remote tower sites located throughout the Region which are linked back to the master site at York Regional Police Headquarters through a network of redundant microwave links and landlines. The system has a very high level of reliability and is expected that it will remain in service until 2014 at which time a key component of the system will no longer be supported by the manufacturer and much of its electronics will have exceeded expected operational lifetimes. The data radio system provides the means through which information is provided to the mobile workstations installed in 200 York Regional Police patrol and support vehicles. These workstations interact with the Computer Aided Dispatch system and other sources of information such as the York Regional Police intranet. In recent years extensive use of the data radio system has substantially reduced the amount of police voice radio traffic however the voice radio system remains a critical asset enabling police operations and is an essential backup to the data radio system. The total potential volume of voice traffic currently being carried is substantially below the systems capacity and therefore other Regional departments could be accommodated on it. Both the Transportation and Works Department and York Region Transit use independent voice radio systems and preliminary discussions have revealed a strong interest in establishing a partnership with York Regional Police. Such an arrangement could leverage greater value from capital investments that have been made in the existing police operated system and reduce overall operational costs. No infrastructure improvements would be required, but users would be required to purchase compatible equipment. A common method of assigning operational cost, when a single radio system is shared, is to divide cost by the number of mobile and portable radios in use by each business entity. At present, usage of the system is as shown below and would result in an annual cost of $629.02 per radio if cost sharing was implemented. 
It is recommended that the Board enter into funding and usage agreements with each Fire Service within the Regional Municipality of York, and that York Regional Police explore partnerships within other Regional Municipality of York Departments, such as Transportation and Works, in order to effectively provide and maintain the voice radio communication system and it's infrastructure, in a manner which reduces overall costs. The municipal fire services are not currently delivering data to their mobile units and do not have immediate plans to do so, however, both the Works and Transportation Department and York Regional Transit currently use data communication and have indicated interest in exploring a partnership with York Regional Police. Such additional use will require reconfiguration of the data radio system and will require exploration of the additional users specific needs to determine the financial implications. |
Respectfully submitted, Armand P. La Barge, Chief of Police. |