Metro’s radios: Public shouldn’t cover replacement costs

Imagine the Clark County School District spent $42 million on a new, technologically advanced middle school that would result in greater efficiency and instructional capability - a bold step forward in campus design.

Imagine that from the moment the school opened its doors, nothing worked right. Then imagine that just two years after the school's completion, the school district announced the campus concept was so flawed there was no saving it, that it would be torn down and another new school would be built in its place.

How mad would you be? Would you be willing to cover any of the replacement costs?

The Clark County School District is in no such predicament. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department is.

Last week, Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie announced the department was dropping its 2-year-old, $42 million digital radio system. Known as Desert Sky, the system has been plagued by dropped calls and dead zones. A system that was supposed to expand channel capacities and enable advanced data communications has instead functioned so poorly that officers say it's only a matter of time before it puts their lives at risk.

"We're worried about getting into a situation where we need help and no one can hear us," a patrol officer told the Review-Journal's Mike Blasky and Brian Haynes.

The department already is in bad fiscal shape. It faces a projected $46 million revenue shortfall for its estimated 2013-14 budget of $502 million. Mr. Gillespie and Clark County commissioners have said they might seek additional funding for the department at next year's legislative session, either through a new quarter-cent sales tax increase or a more flexible application of an existing quarter-cent sales levy that funds the salaries and benefits of recently hired officers. Contracting with another vendor to build a new voice transmission system could cost between $15 million and $20 million and take up to two years (The department plans to keep Desert Sky's data transmission system).

Harris Corp., which delivered Desert Sky, also builds the effective P25 system, the new federal standard for public safety agencies. The department is in negotiations with Harris to come up with a solution: one that could have Harris build a new voice communication system at the company's expense, or one that has Metro suing Harris to cover the costs of a competitor's replacement product.

Metro should pursue every avenue to avoid a taxpayer bailout. The Desert Sky failure underscores the importance of weighing risk in spending tax dollars and going with proven technologies. In this case, the promises of Desert Sky were a bad bet. Metro and the public can't afford another mistake.