Essential emergency fix

The county's consolidated emergency communications system has been touted as a way to provide better response by fire, police and emergency medical services over the whole of Charleston County. Our Sunday news report, however, revealed that the essential service suffers from serious shortcomings, particularly in the East Cooper area. Fortunately, County Council is on the track to begin making the necessary improvements.

It can't happen too soon.

Anything short of a wholly functional, state-of-the art emergency communications system shortchanges county residents on a service that can spell the difference between life or death. As County Council Chairman Teddie Pryor acknowledges on our Commentary page, there is no governmental responsibility of greater importance.

County Council is expected to approve a contract tonight with Motorola to make the necessary changes to the system, which links all local public safety agencies countywide. The first phase of improvements is expected to cost $12 million.

The county already has made some improvements to the system, as noted by Mr. Pryor in his op-ed. But council's own plan recognizes there's more to be done.

The county has in hand a consultant's report assessing the planned upgrades, though it has declined to make it public, saying the report is "an attorney work product prepared for the purpose of giving legal advice to Council." By that definition, virtually any document under review of the county attorney would qualify as off limits to the public -- even though the taxpayer picks up the tab. Presumably, the privileged status of those documents will be downgraded when the county approves the contract to improve the system. East Cooper officials, in particular, want to know the details.

And so they should, since their area has been plagued by lapses in emergency communications which already have proven hazardous -- and ultimately could prove fatal.

Our report recounted the harrowing experience of an Isle of Palms public works employee who had to drive himself to a hospital while suffering a heart attack because he couldn't reach EMS. Then there was an incident when island firefighters didn't receive a radio report of swimmers in distress. And the incident when Mount Pleasant police officers couldn't communicate while trying to arrest a suspect in a home invasion. The list goes on.

Indeed, our reporters looked at "hundreds of pages of e-mails, letters, reports and other documents" revealing the extent of the problem. East Cooper officials were interviewed. The result was a fully documented critique of a system that hasn't performed to expectations. It doesn't rate the description of "tabloid" journalism from Mr. Pryor.

On Election Day, Charleston County voters overwhelmingly endorsed a referendum to have the county look at the prospects of merging services provided by local governments. That endorsement was made with the expectation that consolidation can improve public services or cut costs to taxpayers through economies of scale. It's safe to say that further functional consolidation hinges on council's ability to come through with an emergency communications system that is wholly dependable for all local jurisdictions and agencies.

The switch from analog to digital was an essential step in modernizing the county's emergency communications system, but our report makes it clear that it has fallen short of expectations. Council's own plan to spend at least $12 million to fix the system is an admission of its shortcomings.

County residents have been promised a state-of-the art system for emergency communications.

Now let's see how quickly the county can actually provide it.