High-speed chase mix-up puts spotlight on police radio shortcomings
By Becky Purser | TELEGRAPH write
October 30, 2006
macon.com
PERRY - Georgia State Patrol troopers stopped a speeding minivan with a tire deflation device Oct. 19 only to find that the driver was an undercover Houston County sheriff's investigator en route to assist a fellow deputy.
No one was injured in the high speed chase on Interstate 75 that ended when one of the van's tires blew from the "stop sticks."
Houston County sheriff's Sgt. E.M. Quinones Jr. managed to maneuver the disabled unmarked sheriff's vehicle to the side of the interstate without any further damage.
The veteran drug investigator was in radio contact with a Houston County 911 dispatcher while being chased by the state troopers, said Houston County sheriff's Capt. Robert Clark.
The pursuing state trooper, Crystal Folds, was also in radio contact with the Georgia State Patrol post in Perry, said GSP Cpl. Richard Peck.
But neither the trooper nor the sheriff's officer could communicate with each other because each agency uses a different dispatching system.
The incident, which officials agree could have ended far more seriously, calls attention to what some officials say is a critical need for improved radio communication among public safety agencies.
THE CHASE
The following account of the potentially deadly incident is gleaned from interviews and recordings of the radio, telephone and videotaped conversations made available by the two law enforcement agencies:
At 9:15 a.m. Oct. 19, Folds, who was running radar checks at the Russell Parkway interchange on I-75, clocked a van speeding south at 93 mph.
It took the pursuing trooper two miles to catch up to the van at the Ga. 96 exit.
Three more miles down the interstate, stop sticks were deployed just north of Todd Road.
During the chase, speeds reached 98 mph to 106 mph, the state patrol says.
The sheriff's office says a Houston County 911 radio operator contacted a state patrol dispatcher with the information that a sheriff's investigator in an unmarked vehicle was rushing to provide backup for another deputy at a traffic stop on I-75 near Perry.
But the state patrol says the 911 operator failed to provide to the GSP dispatcher a description of the unmarked van.
According to a recording of the radio traffic between the 911 operator and Quinones, the sheriff's investigator radioed in that he was responding to the call for assistance. In the next radio contact from Quinones, he tells the operator a trooper is pulling out behind him and to notify GSP that he's in an unmarked vehicle responding to a call.
In the third radio contact, Quinones asks 911 to call the state patrol again and make sure that the trooper behind him is aware he's a sheriff's investigator.
The fourth call is to report that stop sticks were deployed. The fifth call is requesting a wrecker.
MISCOMMUNICATION
A recorded telephone conversation between the 911 operator and the state patrol dispatcher indicated a miscommunication between the two agencies.
The 911 operator's first call to the GSP is a request to dispatch a trooper to help the sheriff's deputy.
The second call from 911 to the state patrol is to relay that an undercover sheriff's investigator is responding to help the deputy.
The 911 operator tells the state patrol dispatcher that a trooper that turned around on I-75 and began pursuit is behind an undercover sheriff's investigator in an unmarked van and should expect him to pull over.
The GSP operator says that a trooper has turned around to help the deputy who had called for backup.
A review of the tapes indicated there apparently was confusion between the GSP dispatcher and the 911 operator about the fact that there were two troopers responding to the situation.
One state trooper was responding to help the deputy and another trooper was pursuing the van driven by the undercover sheriff's officer.
Moments later the 911 operator is asking the state patrol dispatcher why stop sticks were put down in front of the undercover sheriff's investigator.
The GSP dispatcher replied there had been a mistake, that there were four troopers working traffic on the interstate, that she thought the trooper who turned around was the same one the 911 operator called about and that the 911 operator never gave a description of the undercover officer's vehicle.
The trooper who was in high-speed pursuit of the van never was made aware that she was chasing an undercover officer responding to a call until the disabled vehicle was stopped on the side of the highway.
In the aftermath, Quinones was given a verbal reprimand for failing to attach blue lights to the unmarked van he was driving.
The emergency lights were in the van but beyond arm's reach, Capt. Clark of the sheriff's office said.
The situation could have been avoided, GSP Cpl. Peck said, had there been the ability for the officers involved to be in direct radio contact.
A FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE
The incident underscores the bigger problem that not all law enforcement agencies can talk to each other, he said.
Had the state troopers been aware the speeding van was being driven by an undercover sheriff's investigator, Peck said, "we probably would have given an escort."
Houston County law enforcement and emergency agencies communicate with each other through an 800 megahertz dispatching system.
The Georgia State Patrol and other local agencies, for financial or other reasons, are not on the wavelength, Peck said.
Sgt. L.R. Harrell, acting commander at the state patrol post in Perry, said there is a push for the GSP and other state public safety agencies to convert to an 800 megahertz system. But that would take a long time to implement - should it come to pass.
There has also been talk of the Houston County Commission buying hand-held radios for state troopers at the Perry post, which would allow direct communication among the law enforcement agencies and allow the patrol post to monitor Houston County 911 traffic.
Houston County Sheriff Cullen Talton, who is on the statewide public safety board, said he doesn't believe switching all law enforcement and emergency agencies in Georgia to an 800 megahertz system would be feasible or practical.
However, he suggested, there is merit for large population areas to look into radio systems that can talk to one another.
Talton said he's not opposed to state troopers in the area having hand-held radios that tie into Houston County's 911 system but thinks the state patrol ought to pay for them.
Simply going to an 800 megahertz system is not the answer, Bibb County Sheriff's Capt. David Davis said.
After all, Bibb County-Macon 911 and Houston County 911 are both on 800 megahertz systems but the agencies cannot talk to each other.
Houston County 911 cannot monitor Bibb County 911 radio traffic and vice versa.
Something Bibb County does have available now - to be used for natural disasters or terroristic attack - is a mobile "interoperability" command post that allows various agencies to talk to each other, Davis said.
The hand-held radios of other law enforcement agencies may be programmed into the system to operate on the same emergency radio channels, he said.
A statewide system among public safety agencies would be beneficial during a disaster or terroristic attack but not for daily communication, Davis said.
"There is so much radio traffic that one statewide system would be overloaded," he said.
What could work, Davis suggested, is statewide implementation of an interoperability system that would set up certain channels that would be used only in the event of such an emergency in which every public safety agency that responds has access to those channels.
In the meantime, for agencies that cannot talk to each other by radio dispatch, the principal means of communication remain through telephone lines.
As for the recent snafu on I-75, Sheriff Talton said it was an unfortunate incident that shouldn't have happened but he's not looking to fix blame.
State patrol post commander Harrell agreed, noting that both the trooper and the sheriff's investigator were just trying to do their jobs.
To contact Becky Purser, call 923-3109, extension 243, or e-mail bpurser@macontel.com.
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