Grant funds to update emergency calls
Thanks to a $1.2 million grant secured by U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl and a $2.5 million shift in Alabama Rescue Plan Act funds, Escambia County, Ala., is about to kickoff a $3.7 million project to update communications for law enforcement, fire departments, emergency medical services and other first responders.
Escambia County Sheriff Heath Jackson said Rep. Carl’s grant funds and the ARPA funds will be used to install infrastructure on towers and to outfit first responders with new P25 radioes.
The county commission had originally put aside up to $2.5 million in ARPA funds for renovations to the Escambia County Detention Center.
Commission Chairman Raymond Wiggins said the ARPA funds had to be spent by Dec. 24, 2023, and due to the location of the detention center and the time frame, the project could not meet the deadline.
During Monday’s commission meeting the board voted unanimously to shift the ARPA funds to upgrade the communications system. Wiggins added that the commission is looking for other funds for the detention center renovations.
Sheriff Jackson said the problem in the past is the sheriff’s office and the county had to buy what it could afford and noted there are communication issues across the county.
“This will fix it,” Jackson said of the upgrade.
He told commissioners when he was working with the Escambia County, Fla., Sheriff’s Office he had a P25 radio and could stand in his yard in Brewton and communicate freely with someone in downtown Pensacola. He noted the current radioes being used are past their service life.
Jackson said the new communications will benefit everyone in the county.
“It will be safer for the schools, law enforcement, fire departments and EMS,” Jackson said.
He also added it will be safer for the residents of Escambia County by cutting down response times in case of an emergency.
