As Dane County takes the next steps in bettering its response system, most cities, towns and villages encompassed within the county are set to sign on with a proposed plan to link all law enforcement and security forces via a new radio network. 

Josh Wescott, Dane County executive chief of staff, said the idea for a radio network called “DaneCom” has been discussed for the last several years and will be launched in 2013.

The county began evaluating its needs and what would work best for a regional system that would reach all the necessary cities and towns, Wescott said. 

He also said the county contains a large urban population surrounded by a rural population, and communication in some parts of the county is difficult. Under the new system, Wescott said everything would be better connected.

“This is a very substantial public safety upgrade for the county,” Wescott said. “We wanted to make sure we do it right for our response teams, and build a system we can use for the next couple of decades.”

Scott McDonell, Dane County board chair, said the response to emergencies like fires and snowstorms would be dramatically improved, as well as to other incidents such as car crashes.

He also said sometimes when deputies or other officials are on duty alone they cannot contact anyone else, but they will be able to under the new system.

“People may not notice now, but they’ll notice when the response is better,” McDonell said.

Wescott said the project began in 2004, and relates more to responders’ ability to talk to one another on the way to incidents.

McDonell said the project began when the federal government began selling radio spectrum for revenue. The public safety sector has had a large amount of radio spectrum in the past, but that is changing.

He said the original plan was to have one system used everywhere in the county, including Madison, but would have cost more than $30 million to impose.

The plan now incorporates the megahertz system Madison currently has, as well as the county’s system, which is in worse shape, McDonell said. This amounts to under $18 million instead, to be paid by the county.

The cities, towns and villages within the county will share operation and maintenance costs after the plan is implemented, according to a statement from the county executive’s office.

The statement said the plan would greatly improve regional communication and response, especially expanding into rural areas.

The system would go far in helping emergency responders to do their jobs and also remain safe on the job, Gary Ziegler of the Emergency Medical Services Association said in the statement.

“I am glad the DaneCom system is finally moving along, and it has been a long time in coming,” Ziegler said in the statement.

Wescott said while many changes have been put in place concerning the county’s call response system since University of Wisconsin student Brittany Zimmermann was murdered in her near-campus apartment in 2008, this newest change to the communications system was not spurred by the Zimmermann case.