Yesterday Was the Big Moving Day for Us

[Guest guest]

Well, after being in the planning stages for nearly 3 years, after

having been in temp quarters " from beyond " since June.....the LaVergne

Police Department Communications Division made it's official move into

their newly remodeled quarters on December 4, 2001.

Yesterday dawned with all the vendors, or tech people having ANYTHING to

do with the comm center showing up for the final cut overs. Everything

went fairly smoothly, although did put in his expected appearance

throughout the day. It was discovered that the recorder for the radio is

not functioning properly, and will have to be worked on today. There is

a needed part that has to be ordered to HOPEFULLY implement headset

usage for both radios and phones. One of the two new radios has a card

problem, resulting in a high pitched whine being heard by all the units

when we attempt to broadcast on it. That position became a calltaker

only position last night until the card can be replaced and the

modulation adjusted. We have a new phone system in communications now. I

am still reserving judgment on how this part is going to go....our phone

system for the entire city government is a large issue right now. All

phones in the department are digital, through a company called Ideacom.

Our phone carrier has authority up to the entry point, then the Ideacom

people take over, and now, in communications, we have analog phones from

Positiron that handle both regular lines and 9-1-1 lines. The Bellsouth

9-1-1 people and the Ideacom people had to work out a " handshake "

between the two systems to enable us to connect to the rest of the city

government. It has actually added some complications to the way in which

we will access voice mail, outside lines and other extensions in the

city government, but hopefully will be worthwhile in the long run. The

NCIC software stumped our IT people for most of the day. We were suppose

to be installing an upgrade, but after many hours of install, uninstall

and reinstall and many calls to and from Datamaxx, it was determined

that the software sent to us is either the wrong software or is

corrupted. A new copy is being sent out this morning, but will not be

here for a couple of days. IT finally reinstalled the old software, and

actually got the NCIC up and running. There is a problem with the

printing functions yet, but they will work on that today. Dispatchers

were told to keep a list of questions and problems as they encounter

them, so that we can address them daily until all the kinks are ironed

out.

It has been a LONG road to this point...and one of the focal points of

my first year as a supervisor. It is sad that our former Chief, who was

a major force in moving this on, is not here to see it come to be. I am

hoping that this move, once the new is over and the adjustment period is

complete, will be a major UP in the morale department. I know I need

it...and I strongly suspect the same is true of all my people.

To those of you undergoing remodeling...good luck...I am immensely glad

to have this almost over!!!

Freida

LaVergne, TN

PS Behr: I never painted the clouds.........but there are still

a few spots of untouched blue wall....and I still might get out that

white paint before this is all " Fini " !!!