The Knox County Sheriff’s Department never before had radios that were permanently fixed in their squad cars, but last night the Knox County Board approved a purchase of $91,000 for new radios and repeaters.
Repeaters will now be in the squad car, which retransmits radio signals at a higher power whether officers are communicating with dispatch or vice versa.
Board member Cheryl Nache asked if the portable radios the departments had are safe.
Knox County Sheriff, Dave Clague said the portable radios have been used as a cost saving measure.
“So we looked at it, we tested it, we drove from Fulton County all the way through Knox up to the Moline Airport,” Clague said. “We came back to … locations here in Knox. It worked great. And it worked great up until about two years ago and it just seemed like every month thereafter, it progressively got worse.”
Radios will be purchased from Supreme Radio Communications in Galesburg.
Board Chair, Brian Friedrich said the winning bid was considerably less than what they anticipated they would have to spend.
Clauge said the other bid came in around $100,000 and was of lesser ability.
