The Apache Junction Police Department may begin communicating on 101 portable radios and 24 vehicle radios next year with a subscriber service at a total cost of more than $1 million.
The Apache Junction City Council was briefed Sept. 5 on the proposed procurement and subscription services for 101 APXN 70 portable radios costing $837,308.60 and 24 APX 6500 mobile radios costing $174,551.52 from Motorola using a state cooperative for a total amount not to exceed $1,011,860.12.
The item is slated to be on the consent agenda at the Tuesday, Sept. 19, meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. in the council chambers, 57 E. First St.
The expenditure is in the fiscal year 2023-24 budget, Police Chief Michael Pooley wrote in a memo to the council.
“These would replace all the radios that do not accept updated software or programing any longer; the units were purchased in 2007 to 2009. The old units will then be deprogrammed and auctioned off following city policy,” he said.
The new handheld radios work a lot like a cell phone, Pooley said during the council meeting.
“Its going to have a lot of features in it. The connectivity is incredible. The mapping features where now when an officer gets out of the vehicle, we’ll be able to see exactly where the officer is going; it will follow the officer by GPS in the radio just like it would in a cellphone,” he said.
They operate on a radio network with a separate cellphone capability on Verizon or AT&T as a backup, Pooley said.
Delivery of the radios is to be no later than June 30, 2024, according to the equipment purchase agreement with Motorola Solutions Inc.
Richard H. Dyer can be reached at rdyer@iniusa.org, or on X @rhdyer. To voice your opinion on this story, connect with us at AzOpinions@iniusa.org.
Meet Richard Richard Dyer has worked at Independent Newsmedia Inc. USA since 1987, starting his career in Apache Junction as a copy editor and being promoted over the years to work as the editor of the Mesa Independent, news services editor for the East Valley office in Apache Junction, managing editor for the East Valley office, news services editor for the East Valley office and eventually also for the newspapers at INI’s then-Chandler office, managing editor again and as a news editor covering Apache Junction/Gold Canyon and Queen Creek. He helped start the Florence Independent while the news editor covering Apache Junction and Mesa news. In January 2023, he became associate managing editor for the East Valley newspapers and in August 2023 became managing editor for the East Valley newspapers of Chandler/Tempe, Gilbert, Queen Creek, Florence, Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon, while also reporting on Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon.
Community: Since 2009, he has worked as a volunteer to design The Blue Guitar Magazine, Blue Guitar Jr. magazine and Unstrung magazine, which are projects of The Arizona Consortium for the Arts; and since 2014, has been overseeing the art submissions.
Education: University of Arizona with a master of arts in journalism and a bachelor of science in agricultural communication. Also continuing education at Mesa Community College in welding in a metal art sculpture class.
Random fact: Saw his first tornado on May 31, 2010, which was classified as an EF-2, as part of a stormchasing tour group.
Hobbies: He is an artist of welded-steel sculptures, selling his artwork at juried and non-juried art shows.
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