The city of Alamo was awarded a grant of more than $500,000 to help its police and fire departments upgrade their outdated radio equipment.
U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez was on hand for a check presentation ceremony Tuesday morning at Alamo City Hall, in which the $540,000 check was presented to Alamo Police Chief Richard Ozuna and Alamo Fire Chief Roy Contreras, along City Manager Bobby Salinas and members of the Alamo City Commission.
“Vicente Gonzalez was actually behind it all, and it was to improve our public safety radio equipment — our infrastructure for our communications out here at the police department,” Ozuna said. “That is going to be used to purchase new radio equipment, handheld portables, because the current ones we have — the majority of them are old and antiquated.”
Ozuna compared his department’s current radio equipment to that of toy walkie talkies that are only able to maintain a proper reception within close coordinates, losing reception the further apart they are.
“Through this newer technology and the regional radio infrastructure and the antennas, we’re not going to have that,” Ozuna said. “It’s more for the safety and security of our officers so they can be dispatched to locations to answer citizen calls, complaints, distress because right now as it is … they try to use the radios and it’s a lot of garbage gargle on the radio or they come in digital.”
Ozuna said the current radios can sometimes sound like two people talking at the same time, making it difficult for his officers to understand what’s being transmitted.
“It puts us in very bad shape,” Ozuna said. “From my standpoint, the safety is for our officers that are out there, whether they’re conducting a traffic stop or they’re conducting a burglary in progress, or just a regular citizen’s call or complaint. If they’re trying to reach the base or another officer and they’re not able to be heard, that puts the officer in jeopardy.”
The police chief said most of his department’s radios are roughly 10 to 15 years old. He said that he hopes to have an estimated 20 to 25 new radios for his patrol units, as well as 35 to 40 new mobile radios for each of the officers in his department. He also plans to have a cache of extra radios in case of any emergencies or natural disasters.
Funding for the new equipment was made possible through the Fiscal Year 2022 Appropriations Bill. Ozuna said that the grant will cover the entire expense for the new radio equipment.
“It’s a blessing,” Ozuna said. “My hat is off to Vicente Gonzalez, our congressman, for his support in this endeavor.”
