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Cincinnati Council Told Police Radios Improving

Jay Hanselman
/
WVXU
Cincinnati police department radio manufactured by Motorola.

Cincinnati officials are telling city council members there has been progress in improving police radios.  

Officers have been complaining about transmitting and receiving audio on the units, which were introduced last summer.  
City council's Law and Public Safety Committee received an update during a meeting Monday morning.

Police Chief Eliot Isaac said Motorola, which supplied the radios, has made a number of improvements in the last two weeks.

"I think any existing challenges, Motorola has been very responsive and very committed to addressing those and anything that still remains that work is ongoing," Isaac said.

Motorola has re-tuned and reprogrammed almost all the radios now in use.  All the units also have new microphones and antennas.

Motorola Vice President John Zidar was asked if police officers should be confident that their radios will work.

"Yes, fully confident and fully committed that absolutely it will function as designed and work to the benefit of the CPD, CFD and all other users," Zidar said.

The police department and the company are still working on issues concerning the officer emergency button on the radios and the noise-canceling software used for the microphones on the units.
 
Last month, the Fraternal Order of Police began posting pictures on social media with officers' children asking the company to fix the problems because their parents' safety depends on them.
 

Jay Hanselman brings more than 10 years experience as a news anchor and reporter to 91.7 WVXU. He came to WVXU from WNKU, where he hosted the local broadcast of All Things Considered. Hanselman has been recognized for his reporting by the Kentucky AP Broadcasters Association, the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists, and the Ohio AP Broadcasters.