Fall 2005

Volume 1, Issue 3, Fall 2005
“Just as September 11th,
2001, helped to focus the
nation on the communications issues facing our first
responders, Hurricane
Katrina has revealed that
much still needs to be
accomplished to provide
public-safety personnel
with the communications
tools they need to protect
the safety of life and
property.”
A News Bulletin from WILLIAMS
COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
Williams Helps Keep
New Orleans Radios Running
– Willis Carter,
Chief of Communications
for the Shreveport (La.)
Fire Department and
First Vice President of the
Association of Public-Safety
Communications Officials
“The value of interagency
communications cannot
be underestimated when
just one radio call can
translate into the difference between life and
death for an officer on the
street.”
-- Colonel Graham Fountain,
Vice-Chairman of the SLERS
Taskforce and Director of
the Office of Motor Carrier
Compliance at the Florida
Department of Transportation
WCI employees Phil Montville, Ray Russell and Clayton Willis (left to right, atop the
Energy Building), along with colleague Matt Rizzo, helped M/A-COM’s critical communications efforts
in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
Doing their part to help the ravaged Gulf Coast
in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Williams
Communications, Inc. technicians spent several
weeks in the region distributing life-saving radios
and making sure vital communications equipment
stayed operational.
Technicians were dispatched to still-flooded New
Orleans days after Katrina struck, when many
streets remained impassable, water and electricity
“It was like being in a lighthouse
in the middle of nowhere.”
– Phil Montville, WCI Technician
were yet to be restored, and occasional gunshots
disturbed the night silence. Their job: maintain a
critical link in M/A-COM’s communications network
that was perched near the top of a 40-story office
tower a few blocks from the Superdome.
(see New Orleans, p.3)
SLERS a Lifesaver for
Florida Highway Patrol
It’s been about one-and-a-half years since the
Florida Highway Patrol began using The Florida
Statewide Law Enforcement Radio System
(SLERS), and according to Capt. Steve Williams,
FHP’s Communication Information Systems
Manager, the system has made a tremendous
difference.
5046 Tennessee Capital Blvd.
Tallahassee, FL 32303
1-800-649-5783
1-850-385-1121
www.wmscom.com
The system’s interoperability, multiple channels
and emergency features make work safer and
more efficient, said Capt. Williams (no relation to
Williams Communications).
(see SLERS, p.3)
“SLERS gets
more eyes and
ears out there,
available to look
for whatever
issue is being
broadcast.”
– Capt. Steve Williams,
Florida Highway Patrol
Radios Repaired with Precision
Ever wonder what happens to your radio
when it gets shipped off for an upgrade or
repair? With the right security clearance,
you can find out during a visit to the hightech depot inside the headquarters of
Williams Communications, Inc. (WCI),
where M/A-COM radios from across the
U.S. come in for service by the pallet.
This facility, the only one of its kind in the
southeastern United States, is equipped
with a broad array of specialized machinery
and staffed by highly trained technicians.
The Williams staff who work here can, over
the course of a year, handle thousands of
radios, says Kenny Merritt, WCI’s terminal
project manager.
It is the only facility offering componentlevel repairs in this area of the state.
Technicians use microscopes to inspect
minute components and complex circuit
boards, and submit radios to various tests
to make sure they can still hold up to punishing elements. A specialized oven, for
example, ensures that the radios can withstand temperatures of 140 degrees
Fahrenheit (about the temperature of a
trooper’s toasty trunk on a Florida
interstate), while another device checks
whether the equipment can spend several
hours under 2 meters of water and keep on
ticking, as standards require.
“There are not many people who do what
we do, it’s a niche field,” said Merritt. The
job requires patience and attention to detail,
but the hard work more than pays off.
“It’s very important that you give 110
percent,” said Merritt. “People’s lives may
depend on whether that officer in the field
can communicate, and for me that has
always been the most rewarding part of
this job.”
Did You Know…
…that if you want to invest in the
Statewide Law Enforcement Radio
System (SLERS) but have a tight
budget, you can still get financing
on system hardware to make it more
affordable. M/A-COM has arranged
this opportunity through financing
groups options, with five- or sevenyear terms available. For example,
based on Summer 2005 interest
rates, for equipment totaling about
$93,000, a five-year lease term
would result in a monthly payment
of about $1,781, while a seven-year
term would mean a monthly payment of about $1,338.
…that Interagency Talk Groups are
now available to third-party users.
Cities and counties are able to
directly communicate through these
talk groups, which can be used
statewide.
…that WCI occasionally offers specials on two-way radios and accessories. Please check with us periodically for any special discounts!
…that with the reorganization of
Florida’s State Technology Office
operations into the Department of
Management Services, Enterprise
Information Technology Services
Program, the address for the SLERS
Web site has changed. It is now:
http://eits.myflorida.com/slers
...that WCI is opening a new office in
Crestview to serve northwest Florida
and lower Alabama. The address is
701 Ashley Dr., Crestview, FL 32536.
Check our next newsletter for the
phone number and other details.
For more information, please call
Williams Communications, Inc. (WCI)
at 800-649-5783 and ask to speak
with a sales associate.
New Orleans (continued from p. 1)
“It was really beyond words,” said
Montville of the damage he witnessed.
Personnel monitored a key site that was
the soul source of communications for the
city’s 4,500 first responders, so that local
personnel who had been on the job could
take care of their families and homes. The
equipment had been knocked out of
service during the Category 4 storm when
debris pierced the generator that powered
it. A replacement generator was flown in
and the original generator was repaired
soon after the hurricane. Given how difficult and time-consuming it was to deploy
people to the site, and how important it
was that the generator and site stay online,
M/A-COM decided to keep personnel on
the premises 24/7, just in case.
Though their circumstances weren’t as dire
as those suffered by the city’s countless hurricane victims, WCI employees had to rough
it. They slept on cots in a steamy, pitch-black
hallway, subsisted on hotdogs grilled on the
transmitter’s charging circuits, and made do
with Wet Wipes showers. Leaving the
building meant walking down more than 40
flights of stairs – and back up again.
The men’s first evenings on the job were
nerve-racking. From their bird’s-eye view,
the storied city, normally bright and ebullient, was silent and dark. “That was an
eerie, eerie feeling,” said Montville. “It was
like being in a lighthouse in the middle of
nowhere.”
Two other WCI employees, Matt Rizzo and
Clayton Willis, also contributed to hurricane
relief efforts. First from Jackson, Miss.,
then from Baton Rouge, La., the pair
worked out of M/A-COM service centers to
help process and deploy communications
equipment across the affected area. M/ACOM, which had systems in every county
affected by the hurricane, rushed more
equipment to the region, and dozens of
personnel. Rizzo and Willis also helped
relocate New Orleans’ flooded dispatch
center to a different site in the city.
The men’s experience in the Big Easy is
likely to stay with them for a long time.
Toward the end of his stint there, Montville
was looking forward to returning home.
The first thing he planned to do when he
got back to Tallahassee?
“Turn the air conditioning to a comfortable
temperature,” he said, “and take a long,
hot shower.”
In the
Spotlight:
Gavin Lasater
As Northeast Regional Director for Williams
Communications, Inc., Gavin Lasater is a
busy man. His primary responsibility is
making sure equipment is operating
smoothly throughout his region, which
stretches north of Orlando to the state
border and east of Madison to the coast.
From his Jacksonville base, Lasater
oversees a team of specialists who travel
throughout the area doing preventive maintenance on remote, rural sites. The team
also maintains the microwave and IP
backbone of the Statewide Law
Enforcement Radio System (SLERS).
But Lasater’s job doesn’t end there. With
Williams since 2002, Lasater is involved in
many aspects of the company, from sales
to special installation projects, from setting
up inventory databases to testing interference coverage. He also travels to locations
such as Louisiana to troubleshoot with
clients.
“Every day I get to do something else,
something new,” said Lasater.
SLERS (continued from p. 1)
“One of the clear benefits of SLERS is not
only that all the state agencies are able to
stay in touch with each other, but that local
agency subscribers can come onto the
system,” he said. “It also brings interoperability between state law enforcement and
local law enforcement.
“Before, each state agency had its own
radio system and none of the systems
were communicating with each other,”
explained Capt. Williams, “so I could have
a fellow officer sitting next to me and I
couldn’t even talk to him on the radio.”
Now all state agencies can communicate
on this one system, a feature particularly
valuable in dispatch and when issuing
officer safety bulletins.
“All state law enforcement officers are
getting these BOLOs (Be On The
Lookouts) over the same common system,
which means SLERS gets more eyes and
ears out there, available to look for
whatever issue is being broadcast,”
Capt. Williams said.
One high-profile example was the tragic
death last year of Sgt. George A. “Andy”
Brown III, killed when his car crashed
during a police chase.
“The BOLO went out on the SLERS
system about the people and the vehicle
we were looking for,” said Capt. Williams.
“A Department of Agriculture law enforcement officer spotted the vehicle and we
were able to apprehend the suspect.”
That suspect is currently awaiting trial on
second-degree murder charges.
Before SLERS, that case could have ended
very differently, noted Capt. Williams. “The
perpetrator could have driven right past the
officer and he would never have realized it.”
Prior to SLERS, the FHP operated with only
one frequency per area, resulting in
channel loading and potentially life-threatening communication logjams. “It was like
waiting at the deli at Publix,” joked Capt.
Williams. “Pick a number.”
But SLERS’ trunked system offers multiple
frequencies, enhancing troopers’ ability to
do more things on the job. There’s no
longer any risk that the communications
needs of a special detail will interfere with
regular FHP radio traffic. And officers can
Lasater’s skill and versatility are great
assets to the company, said WCI President
Ken Williams.
“Gavin is a dedicated team member who
goes the extra mile for our clients,” said
Williams. “Our customers in the northeast
region can depend on him and his staff.”
use the extra capacity for proactive, preventive communications, not just responding to problems.
Finally, the emergency button on SLERS
radios, absent from the FHP’s previous
system, saves lives. In one instance last
summer, an officer dealing with an accident
in heavy traffic outside Pensacola used the
button to alert the dispatcher that an ambulance was needed immediately. That meant
the call for medical help got out as much as
several minutes sooner than it might have
before.
“It’s not only a feature that can help an
officer,” Capt. Williams said. “It’s a feature
that can help the public.”
A News Bulletin from
WILLIAMS COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
2.
1.
A team of WCI employees went to New
Orleans after Hurricane Katrina to help
maintain communications (please see front
page). 1. Phil Montville of WCI, Greg
Coleman of M/A-COM and Ray Russell of
WCI get the New Orleans system up and
running. 2. Inside temperatures soared into
the triple digits. 3. Katrina left mud and
mess across the city.
3.
PRSRT STD
US POSTAGE
PAID
TALLAHASSEE FL
HEADQUARTERS:
5046 Tennessee Capital Blvd.
Tallahassee, FL 32303
1-800-649-5783
1-850-385-1121
TALLAHASSEE OFFICE:
1215 West Tharpe Street
Tallahassee, FL 32303
(850) 205-2337
www.wmscom.com
In This Issue
• Williams helps keep New Orleans
radios running
• SLERS a lifesaver for Florida
Highway Patrol
• Radios repaired with precision
• In the Spotlight: Gavin Lasater
• New Williams office to open in
Crestview
JACKSONVILLE OFFICE:
7029-6 Commonwealth Avenue
Jacksonville, FL 32220
(904) 378-0054
COMING SOON
CRESTVIEW OFFICE:
701 Ashley Dr.
Crestview, FL 32536
PERMIT NO 904