By Maya Hilty
The Santa Fe New Mexican
SANTA FE COUNTY, N.M. 鈥� Imagine you鈥檙e an emergency responder speeding down N.M. 14 toward a public safety threat or person in distress.
As you approach, your radio becomes unintelligible. Maybe it goes silent altogether. Minutes drag on without contact from dispatchers or other responders.
That isn鈥檛 a nightmare scenario but rather a reality for Santa Fe County firefighters and sheriff鈥檚 deputies, leaders of the two departments said.
鈥淎t that point, the officer is pretty much left on his own to deal with the situation, and that鈥檚 a safety issue,鈥� said Sheriff Adan Mendoza.
鈥淐ommunication is one of the most important aspects of public safety. That鈥檚 how we know where we need to be and what is happening鈥� 鈥� so communication lapses are, to say the least, 鈥減roblematic,鈥� he said in an interview.
The county鈥檚 aging VHF radio system, which 鈥渋s incredibly close to reaching the end of its serviceable life,鈥� has posed growing problems for first responders, said Fire Chief Jacob Black.
That鈥檚 why he is 鈥渁nxiously awaiting鈥� an $8.1 million upgrade to the state鈥檚 higher-tech, encrypted system, called the Digital Trunked Radio System, or Project 25. The system is owned and managed by the state Department of Information Technology.
Santa Fe County could move to the state system in spring 2025, contingent on the county finding about $5 million in additional funds for the project, consultant Brad Barber told county commissioners in March.
One change would be that communications on the state system are encrypted, meaning the public can鈥檛 listen to responders talking. Currently, Santa Fe County sheriff鈥檚 deputy and firefighter communications are public because encryption is not possible on the existing VHF system.
Barber, Black and Mendoza all posed encryption as an advancement to prevent 鈥渂ad actors鈥� from easily accessing public safety communications.
鈥淵ou have to realize that there are some people out there that listen to radio communications for nefarious reasons,鈥� Mendoza said, citing as an example deputies who have arrested criminals carrying radio scanners, ostensibly to help them avoid arrest.
鈥淚 feel like law-abiding citizens should be allowed to listen to the traffic, but ... I think the safety of officers and the public outweighs that need,鈥� he said.
The county has considered an upgrade for years.
In 2017, the county collaborated with the city to hire consultants from Fairfax, Va. -based Federal Engineering Inc. to evaluate the area鈥檚 radio systems. At that time, consultants provided a range of options to improve the county system.
Five years later, the county hired the firm to update its analysis, at which point consultants recommended Santa Fe County move to the state鈥檚 digital system, said Barber, who is Federal Engineering鈥檚 vice president. The existing system 鈥� which last received a significant upgrade around 2010, Black said 鈥� is so old it is no longer 鈥渇ully supported鈥� by its manufacturer, Barber said.
Though the county has considered upgrades 鈥渟everal times鈥� over the years, 鈥渋t鈥檚 very expensive,鈥� Mendoza said.
In 2023, the County Commission set aside $2.5 million for the project and then requested $5.2 million from the state during the recent legislative session but only received $425,000.
The county did recently receive a $1.5 million grant from the state Fire Marshal鈥檚 Office for the radio upgrades, but a significant funding gap remains. Public safety leaders anticipate requesting another $5.2 million in the county budget for the 2025 fiscal year to cover the project鈥檚 full cost, Barber said.
The new technology, which includes new equipment both at radio tower sites and in county first responders鈥� vehicles, will bring a range of benefits.
One is a reversal of 鈥渟ignificant declines in the quality and reliability鈥� of communications, Black described.
VHF communications have become increasingly hard to hear because even 鈥渢hings that seem rather generic and non-threatening, like LED lighting, raise the noise floor for communications,鈥� Barber said.
Due to the system鈥檚 age, radio tones frequently go in and out, only relaying half of a message or failing to transmit messages at all, Black said. Black gave as an example a recent call in the Tesuque area where firefighters were on a scene within eyesight of each other but were not receiving each other鈥檚 messages over the radio.
The Fire Department has been relying on 鈥渟topgaps鈥� such as use of an app that sends 911 calls to cellphones and 24/7 monitoring of the radio by department administrators to jump in when it becomes evident responders in the field cannot hear messages over the radio, Black said.
Moving to the state system will also allow county responders to talk with other agencies that occasionally respond to the same calls.
Most public safety agencies are 鈥渕igrating towards鈥� the state system as 鈥渢he predominant standard for public safety communications,鈥� Barber said: About 50 agencies in New Mexico, including the city of Santa Fe, and Sandoval and Bernalillo counties, already use the state system.
Currently, sheriff鈥檚 deputies cannot communicate with Santa Fe police officers because the digital and VHF systems 鈥渏ust can鈥檛 communicate with each other,鈥� Mendoza said.
Similarly, firefighters in southern Santa Fe County cannot talk over the radio with firefighters elsewhere in the county because, due to the system鈥檚 limitations, they must operate on different radio channels, Black said. That means responders heavily rely upon dispatchers to communicate, which increases the chance they miss 鈥渃ritical information,鈥� Black said 鈥� 鈥渘ot because it hasn鈥檛 been communicated but we just don鈥檛 hear it due to the challenges of our current system.鈥�
Moving to the state system will also decrease the number of 鈥渄ead zones鈥� throughout the county where responders cannot receive any communications.
The county has four towers that transmit radio signals, in Tesuque, Namb茅, Edgewood and east of Madrid. Once on the state system, that network will be bolstered by other agencies鈥� infrastructure, Mendoza said.
The new technology also enables radio users to leverage Wi-Fi and mobile wireless broadband coverage on commercial networks to improve communications in places like schools and large commercial buildings, where radios may not work well.
Overall, the move will be a 鈥済ame changer鈥� for public safety, Mendoza added.
鈥淲e get by with the VHF system; we have for years,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut there are some gaps there, and I think that鈥檚 what this new [Project] 25 is going to alleviate.鈥�
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