Public safety communications getting upgrade

FOND DU LAC - "WISCOM command post to the State Patrol District Four Headquarters in Wausau for a radio check."

It's a new call, soon to be heard on emergency radio frequencies statewide.

"It's always been a need," said Deputy Chief Kevin Lemke with the Fond du Lac Police Department.

A way for different police, fire and EMS agencies to communicate.

"Now an officer will not have to wait as long to get the needs and resources they are looking for," said Lemke.

WISCOM is the first statewide radio communication system for public safety. WISCOM will make it easier for different agencies in different jurisdictions to talk to each other during large scale emergencies. A problem first discovered during the events of 9/11.

"The real benefit is going to be as you see an incident escalate from maybe a small local incident and then expand to a regional and potentially a statewide incident, that's where you're going to see the true benefits behind WISCOM," said Kewaunee County Sheriff Matt Joski.

Fond du Lac police and fire will be some of the first agencies to utilize the new WISCOM system which is now operational. The goal is to someday get public safety agencies across the state on board.

"It's a way we can use the limited resources that we have in communications and use computers to make more efficient use of the bands that are out there," said Lemke.

Currently Iowa, Sawyer, Taylor, Kewaunee and Douglas counties are using the WISCOM system. The city of Fond du Lac will make the switch by July. Outagamie and Winnebago counties are looking at their own shared communication system that could be operational by the middle of 2013.

"Now we're all going to be putting our eggs in one basket as opposed to each of us doing our own thing," said Fond du Lac Fire Chief Peter O'Leary.

Different agencies coming together in the name of safety.