In 2011 - 13 Florida Counties combined and applied for the Regional Domestic Security Task Force (RDSTF) Public Safety Communications grant worth $3,683,474.00. Alachua County Sheriff's Office was the administrator of this grant representing the counties. Lt Scott Finnen represented Levy County and managed our portion of this grant application.
On August 4, 2011, Alachua County was notified they had been awarded the grant. This notification came from the State of Florida, Division of Emergency Management. The purpose of this grant was to purchase the new P25 federal interoperability standard 700-800 MHz radios.
Levy County's portion of this grant totaled $178,500.00. This value is the equivalent to 47 radios at approximately $3,795.00 each. This grant award represents the first major investment in our countywide radio system since conversion to the State system in 2007. This was at NO COST to the citizens of Levy County.
The new Harris XG-75 radios are the state of the art and will have compatibility to talk to all surrounding agencies once fully programmed. The radios will be used for communication interoperability in emergency and natural disaster situations, adding to the cohesiveness of all county operations.
The radios will be distributed through the county emergency services including: Williston Police Dept., Inglis Police Dept., Cedar Key Police Dept., Chiefland Police Dept., Public Safety Director Knowles representing Fire and Rescue for Levy County and the Division of Emergency Management.
In these tight economic times, Levy County Sheriff's Office is constantly searching for new, innovative ways to increase the effectiveness of Public Safety for the citizens of Levy County. Grants are one of the ways we save our citizens money and bring new technology to better serve our public.
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Lt. Scott Tummond
Criminal Investigations Division
Levy County Sheriff's Office
(352) 486-5111