Posted on Monday, 22nd March 2010 by Patrick Dorwin
Once again, I was passed something from a frustrated Milwaukee police officer regarding the failed OpenSky radio system that has cost taxpayers over $17 million.
This was posted in response to several officer complaint postings. I found it quite stunning, officers were basically told to quit bitching, adapt to the “short fall” and go do your job.
This will get long, so I will split the post if you are reading from the main blog page.
This is the posting in question. I’ll add my comments below.
The concerns that you and others have expressed are valid; however they are only valid to a certain point. I will explain this statement shortly. Officer safety is the most important thing to all of us, but we all know there is no way we can guarantee officer safety other than tell every officer to stay home and even there, it’s not guaranteed. We have all heard complaints that the radios are “not safe”, “they don’t work here or there” or simply “they don’t work”. I believe a lot of these comments come from various levels of frustration with the system.
This statement may irritate some of you, however your safety has always been and will always be first and foremost your responsibility. It is not the radio or any other tool on your belt that ensures your safety. Sure, the department provided you tools and knowledge to enhance your abilities, however they simply enhance YOUR abilities to deal with the various situations you may be confronted with. By having knowledge that my radio is not as effective in certain buildings, the first thing I would try to figure out is, “Am I in one of those buildings.” I want to know this so that I can ADJUST my TACTICS to accommodate for this short fall. It will not stop me from doing my job. This is no different than what you were taught in the academy, i.e. parking down the street from your assignment and walking up to it so that you may assess the situation from a far. You take this time to make mental notes as to whom is “out-and-about” and what sounds do you hear before you even get to the incident. It is unfortunate that, now, you have to take the radio into this assessment process and in the past you didn’t. I’m sure that there are officers who will tell you that they have been in basements with the old radio and it did not work properly. I know for a fact that there are many buildings that the old radio did not work in properly. (Tech, Froedtert, Vincent, most hospitals, etc just to name a few). How did we deal with it, we adjusted. So now the schools are Pulaski, Washington, Custer, Tech, and Madison. I know there are more; however either the officers have adjusted and no longer considers it an issue or they haven ran into a problem due to their location in the building. Trust me, it’s one or the other.
What I would like everyone to keep in mind is that the system; as far as verbal communications, is in its’ infancy. We have not been conducting verbal communications through it for even a year as of today. The old system had been handling verbal communications for well over 25years. During those twenty-five years, Radio Shop Manager Sam Steffen and others saw to it that the system’s deficiencies were addressed. Over a period of years they installed repeaters, amplifiers and transmitters all over this city to ensure that we could communicate. I know you do not believe that we no longer have this commitment. This commitment did not start with Sam, nor did it leave with him. The men and women of this department will be able to communicate via radio. It will not take twenty-five years; however it will take time to get it right. As I write this, others are working on trying to get more frequencies and transmitters on towers for us to communicate. In a month or so, radio shop personnel will be attending a meeting with Region 54 to acquire more frequencies. This process is fluid and time consuming, however we believe it is necessary so that we can communicate better. There is no conspiracy to keep information from the rank and file. I like this sharepoint site and appreciate the comments. It gives me the ability to respond to members directly and gives me the ability to dispel some of the myths about this system. Obviously, I can’t respond to everything in this forum due to the fact that members have violated department policy and released this information to the media. I do, however, read the comments and will be responding regularly.
I’ve kind of responded to several comments in one post, so I will post it under several discussion topics.
Now, I understand the argument about the radio being only one tool that can be used with the officers training, but if any other tool on an officers belt was replaced with a tool that didn’t work as well, wouldn’t you expect the MPD administration to address the shortfall? I would. As a matter of fact, if memory serves, a year or so ago, there was a problem with the magazines being used in the officers hand guns. If I remember correctly, MPD acquired a large number of replacement magazines from Glock, to rectify the problem. I am sure that if handcuffs being used would slip and allow an occasional thug to break free, that would be addressed too. But with faulty radios, they are told to adapt and adjust and get back to work.
Our officers are on the street with a faulty tool, while there are functioning tools that are sitting in some storeroom downtown. Yes, the officers have suburb training and knowledge, but when they have all the tools they need, they can do a better, and safer job.
OpenSky is NOT the only radio system that is compliant with the new federal standards, there are both analog and digital systems that both comply with the guidelines and actually work when needed. If OpenSky worked as advertised, it would be a great system, but it doesn’t and never has… anywhere. In the above posting and in other information I have received, people still wrongly claim that MPD has to move to a digital system, even if this were true, which it is not, OpenSky is not the only digital system, and I believe it’s time to cut your losses, go back to the Motorola’s and get a system that works.
Oh, by the way, we are not the media, but they do read us 
Posted in Home, Open Sky Radios | Comments (17) |
17 Responses to “Milwaukee Police / OpenSky — Quit bitching and do your job”
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March 23rd, 2010 at 6:00 am
Another officer summed up his experience thus far:
March 23rd, 2010 at 6:01 am
Another officer relayed this experience:
March 23rd, 2010 at 6:03 am
Here’s one that mkescan can knock out of the park, it was written in response to an officer that did his homework about the constant wrong information about the new federal mandate being a move to digital:
March 23rd, 2010 at 8:14 am
No - you’re absolutely NOT the media - you actually report NEWS, just like your tagline states! Keep up the good work Patrick!
March 23rd, 2010 at 8:24 am
[...] been doing an excellent job with both reporting and follow-up to problems with Milwaukee PD’s conversion to the OpenSky digital radio [...]
March 23rd, 2010 at 9:46 am
Gotta love the veiled threat at the end of that lengthy post:
“Obviously, I can’t respond to everything in this forum due to the fact that members have violated department policy and released this information to the media.”
That is the rationale for doling out suspensions like the one Bruce cites at another OpenSky post.
Where did that response come from, Patrick? Another thread at Badger Blogger or another forum?
Who wrote that lengthy response threatening disciplinary action for speaking out?
Several years ago, under ex-Chief Art Jones, two officers spoke out to the media. These officers were Javier Cornejo and Rod Gustafson. They are/were well respected officers assigned to the SWAT team.
Much like Chief Flynn’s Neighborhood Task Force, Chief Phil Arreola had a policy of flooding certain targeted areas with increased uniformed presence. One night, Javier and Rod were working together in one of those areas. The policy stated that officers assigned to work such an area were not to leave that area for any reason unless authorized by a Deputy Inspector or higher rank.
Javier and Rod developed information on the whereabouts of a suspect wanted for a shooting. They requested permission to leave that area in order to attempt to apprehend the suspect…an armed suspect wanted for a shooting. Their request was denied by Deputy Inspector Art Jones (later to become Chief Art Jones)…for no other reason than “rules are rules.”
Javier and Rod went to the media to report what they believed to be a threat to public safety from an inflexible policy almost rising to negligence by command staff like Art Jones that placed personal prestige higher in importance than getting the job done.
For speaking out, those officers faced suspensions, immediate transfers out of SWAT to vastly different and less prestigious assignments and were targeted for a ridiculously increased amount of “integrity checks.” [A procedure where money or contraband is placed in the officer's patrol car to see if the officer follows procedure by first finding it then placing it on inventory.]
Both officers filed a federal lawsuit claiming their rights to free speech and due process were violated…they may also have argued they were subjected to a hostile work environment…if someone reading this knows more on the details of the suit, please post them.
Javier and Rod endured years of crappy treatment from the city and the department. After their long, stressful struggle they were vindicated by a victory in federal court and a monetary award in the neighborhood of $300,000.
The court ruled that the officers were not revealing information that the department reasonably expected to remain confidential. It recognized and sided with Javier and Rod’s decision to speak out on a matter of public safety in which the public has a vested interest.
I bring up this story because I believe the troubling situation with the OpenSky radio system is analogous to this one. The dangerous shortcomings of this radio system effects not only officer safety, but public safety as well. We’ve heard time and again from Ed Flynn and police chiefs across the country that the police and the community are connected and reliant on each other to improve the quality of life in the community. If officers can’t communicate effectively in an emergency, they aren’t the only ones in peril.
Any officer speaking out on this issue would be doing so in the interest of public safety and officer safety. Punishing them for doing so is wrong and will likely put the City on the losing end of yet another federal lawsuit. Officers are out there to protect and serve the public, but now is the time for the public to back them up.
March 23rd, 2010 at 9:51 am
To whoever wrote that sharepoint tripe:
I believe a lot of these comments come from various levels of frustration with the system.
Take you long to figure that out, did it? A regular Einstein.
…the first thing I would try to figure out is, “Am I in one of those buildings.”
What an asinine comment. How many F****** buildings are within MKE city limits? Have you checked OpenSkum radios in them all? Have you tested every single house? Every theater? Do you know if it works on the 36th floor of the USBB? Down the steps at The Safe House? Miller Brewery?
And explain how to adjust tactics once initiated when the system fails randomly in buildings, in moving squads, and while in foot pursuit in open air?
We have not been conducting verbal communications through it for even a year as of today
That is an outright lie.
The first “verbal communications” were conducted in November of 2008 (more than three years AFTER the original project completion date). The results were so pathetic and unsafe that the radios had to be pulled from the field after only two weeks in operation.
It will not take twenty-five years;
Realize: you have only 14 years left on that bet. Given the track record the odds are against you. It has taken so long that the original consoles are now obsolete and need replacing.
If you were really concerned about your officers’ safety you would be pushing for dumping this obvious POS system for something that actually works.
March 23rd, 2010 at 11:23 am
I guess we now know what happens if you don’t quit bitching and go to work…
Milwaukee PD sergeant suspended for discussing problems with OpenSky
March 23rd, 2010 at 5:31 pm
I presume the writer who is”jumping on the officers is a Police Officer.
He mentioned that he adjusts if his radio does now work.
While near the building the officer is SHOT,yells into his radio “officer Down” but he is not heard due to radio problems.
The officer dies.
Can it happen,you bet it can.
March 24th, 2010 at 7:32 am
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by peterepublic, BadgerBlogger and BadgerBlogger, BadgerBlogger. BadgerBlogger said: @WTMJohn Did you hear this? Milwaukee Police / OpenSky — Quit bitching and do your job - http://badgerblogger.com/?p=16061 [...]
March 24th, 2010 at 10:38 pm
Good post in a scanning group about Milwaukee & OpenSky. I copied & pasted here http://bit.ly/dtlSuq
March 26th, 2010 at 11:57 am
WisGOP has now gone on the attack with this release:
http://shar.es/mppKn
March 26th, 2010 at 12:11 pm
I don’t think anyone could say that there is anything but a lack of leadership from Milwaukee’s mayor who wants to be Wisconsin’s governor.
You have to be more than just a nice guy, Mayor Tom.
March 26th, 2010 at 6:58 pm
You can’t blame Barrett, he’s only been mayor for 6 years and his handlers have never told him about problems with the public safety radio system.
Could you imagine if Barrett had to ask Scott Walker to let the city in on the county radio system during an election year?
He has a nice personality, maybe he could be a greeter for downtown visitors or city hall doorman. Since the school gig blew up, he doesn’t have that many options.
March 27th, 2010 at 9:25 am
Barrett has no clue about significant issues effecting his city for 6 years and he deserves no blame for that?!?! Are you being sarcastic, mr.parker?
This guy is running for Doyle’s third term for Christsakes…Barrett as governor would be trading deeply corrupt and conniving for mildly corrupt and incompetent!!
March 27th, 2010 at 11:10 am
Roland, I am dripping with sarcasm.
March 27th, 2010 at 11:40 am
At least Barrett has the voter fraud under control.
Give me just one name. Just one name.