Federal, state, municipal, and tribal law enforcement agencies in Yuma County announced Tuesday (11/26/13) they’ve gone live with the Yuma Regional Communications System. The system allows dozens of public safety agencies along the U.S.-Mexico border from California to New Mexico are now connected for the first time, making their communication more efficient.
Yuma city officials say it took 10 years and 25.5 million dollars in grant funding to implement. The agencies will now share radio communication systems and an interconnected record management system.
Donald Hancock, Captain and Acting Chief for the Cocopah Police Department, says in the past officers would have to call other agencies’ dispatch from a cell phone. He said, "If we have officers with Yuma maybe responding to close to where the reservation is and they need assistance, they can actually contact the officer or dispatch instead of doing the third-man relay—going from cell phone, to radio, to dispatch, to the officers. So, that actually cuts down important, valuable time."
Yuma police officials say the new system will shorten response times and make first-responders safer at work. The system is typical of regional partnerships created in response to communication failures during the September 11th attacks.