Henderson County Communications System completed
Henderson County completed a long and vital project last week when Commissioner's Court accepted the fifth tower in the County's new communication system.
"Everything seems to be going in a good direction," said Sheriff Botie Hillhouse during last week's Commissioner's Court meeting. "Everything is going well."
The action marked a milestone in a multi-year effort to bring the County's communications into the 21st century.
"As far as the official portion of it, this concludes a little over four years of work," said County Judge Wade McKinney.
The project with L3Harris cost about $7 million, with $500,000 of that in grants. This P25 digital system includes five towers and guarantees law enforcement and emergency services at least 95 percent of county coverage.
"Everything I've heard from the Sheriff's Department and other departments, it's just like talking on a cell phone," said Commissioner Chuck McHamm. "It's clear, and it will help the safety of our officers and our first responders in the field a tremendous amount."
A critical component of the project was the ability of the County to pay for the system without borrowing any money.
"This system is completely paid for," said McHamm
Judge McKinney highlighted the teamwork required to complete the project.
"There have been so many people (involved in this project)," he said. "The Sheriff's Office, the IT Department, great support from the Audit Office."
He specifically named Jody Vincik and Jarod Mills.
"They have lived and breathed and bled for this system," he said.
You can watch Commissioners Court discuss this topic in the video.
The folks from Harris have sold the County a bill of goods.
The mystery of why a rural county would agree to a 7 million dollar radio system without researching other options (TXWARN) which is already in operation in the County which a simple purchase of the radio equipment and programming would have already been up and running.
The fact that Harris and those who were sold this bill of goods (Henderson County) agreed to fully encrypt all of these communications is even more suspect.
When a Rural County decides to encrypt all communications including basic dispatch channels, what exactly is it they want to hide?
Kaufman County switched to a much needed P25 type 2 system a few years back and after 1 year, they were fully operational without encryption.
Let's ask Kaufman County why they decided to go non encrypted?
So the average folks committing crimes who (they) think are listening have actually taken the time to spend 800 dollars on a p25 capable scanner, figured out how to program these intricate and expensive devices and showed up at crime scenes to hear all the action is further proof that there are no valid reasons why a Texas County would want to hide expensive communications from the public.
Encrypt the sensitive or surveillance channels if you must but allow those of us to know what's going on in our Community.
Allow the Dispatch channels to remain in the clear.