Jackson Jambalaya

The Jackson City Council voted to join the MSWIN radio system last week although it did so under protest.  City council members voted under protest as they claimed they were being manipulated by Hinds County and the state into voting for the system.  However, Hinds County is picking up the entire cost of moving to the MSWIN system.  MSWIN is a statewide radio network created after Hurricane Katrina.  It allows first responders and law enforcement across the state to communicate with each other.  The current radio system used by JPD is operated by Hinds County.  The system is obsolete and the county can no longer order parts for it.  There are several "dead spots" in Jackson at as well.  The council had to vote before a December 31 deadline.  MSWIN was built by Motorola.



The Hinds County proposal offered these features to Jackson:

*Hinds County picks up the cost of the $4 million to operate on MSWIN.
*JPD and the Jackson Fire Department personnel will be able to communicate with other first responders and law enforcement agencies.  The current system does not allow them to do so.  Thus police cannot communicate with each other on chases, for example, unless someone has a radio compatible with the other department's radio system.
*Dead radio spots in Jackson are eliminated.
*The state maintains the radio system.
*The cost of maintaining Jackson's equipment will be capped at $140,000.
*Hinds transfers two of its three towers to MSWIN and deactivates the third.
*Hinds and Jackson retain their own private channels on MSWIN but can operate joint channels that allow them to communicate with other agencies. 
*The money will be used to only operate and maintain Jackson's portion of MSWIN.  It is not dumped into a "general fund" to be used on other cities and counties' portion of MSWIN.

The city council voted 3-1 (Stokes, Foote, Hendrix with Stamps opposing) to enter into an interlocal agreement with Hinds County.  Hinds County voted last fall to scrap its system and join the MSWIN system.

However, Mayor Tony Yarber, Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Marshand Crisler, and three councilmen all stated very strongly that they were not happy about joining the MSWIN system and that they preferred to have Jackson operate its own radio system.   Melvin Priester, Jr. recused himself from the discussion as he represented Hinds County in a lawsuit against Motorola.

Mayor Yarber said (6:00) "we would love to see the city of Jackson be able to have a system that is stand alone and we  support ourselves in this effort.  The dilemma is we don't have the funding to move in that direction right now." He said the city had to decide whether to stand on principle and allow police officers and firefighters to remain at risk or accept the county's proposal.  He said the goal was for the city to eventually have a "stand-alone" system.

Councilman DeKeither Stamps tried to tie this in to the fight over the airport as he said it "appeared" several entities were trying to pull resources away from Jackson".  However, the current radio system is owned and operated by Hinds County and not Jackson.  Mr. Stamps said the city was being "manipulated" into voting for the system. 

The system is paid for with E911 funds distributed by the county.  Cellphone and landline users pay a tax that goes into a statewide E911 fund.  The Mississippi Wireless Communications Commission forwards the money to each county for their appropriate share (Jackson resident's tax goes to the state and then to Hinds County, not other counties).  The money is appropriated by an E911 committee that is made up of representatives of various fire and police departments in Hinds County.  Agencies request funding for telecommunications equipment from the committee.  The committee makes a recommendation.  The Board of Supervisors then approves or rejects that recommendation.  The committee only meets on an as-needed basis.  There are not regular meetings of the E911 committee.

However, several councilmen argued that the taxes placed into the E911 fund is Jackson's money as 80% of the residents in Hinds County live in Jackson.  However, state law mandates that the state provide the tax directly to the county E911 fund and not the city.  JJ attempted to contact Hinds County EOC Director Ricky Moore to find out when the committee last met.

Kingfish note: That was the news, now for the opinion.  Utterly ridiculous is the only way to describe what took place last week.  The state of affairs right now is that Jackson and Hinds County have a system that is obsolete.  The county has to find parts for it on Ebay.  Band-aids, chicken-wire, bondo, you get the idea.  All that talk about police chases? One problem with the police chases is the radio system used by JPD and Hinds County CAN NOT COMMUNICATE  with radio systems of neighboring cities and counties although some agencies have loaned HCSO and JPD their radios to get around this problem.

The county (through E911 funds) is picking up the cost of the new system for Jackson.  Everyone get that little fact? The new system does not cost Jackson a cent although Jackson will have to pay for  maintenance and software upgrades on its own radios after three years.

However, the leadership made it clear they would rather spend several million dollars on its own radio system if it had the money to do so.  Furloughs at JPD.  Roads falling apart. Water pipes failing.  Flat or declining revenues.  However, getting a new radio system that is compatible with everyone else and paid for by someone else and thus keeping an expense off of the books is considered to be a bad deal.  Want to know why Jackson's finances are in bad shape? Watch last week's discussion. 

There was also one particular feature that was not even mentioned during the 42 minute discussion: the ability to talk to other law enforcement agencies.  If Jackson chases a suspect into Pearl or Ridgeland chases one into Jackson, the police will be able to talk to each other.  Remember that nut that killed the woman at the Shell station on Watkins Drive? He then shot up a JATRAN bus, shot at a house, and then crossed the county line and killed a woman in Ridgeland only to return to Jackson.  Do you think police need to able to talk to each other when someone goes on a killing spree? Criminals don't recognize county lines.  Suppose a tornado hits Hinds County and first responders from around Mississippi come help us recover? Their radios won't work on the current system.  However, none of that entered into the discussion last week.  All that mattered was control. Me, me, me, and some more me.  

Only in Jackson would someone consider getting a better radio system at no cost to the city to be a bad deal.

Oh, Nathan Hargrove and Stacy Stowers were hanging around the council chambers during the discussion.  Just a coincidence.