This time it's not Victoria police who are complaining, instead it's officers from neighbouring Saanich.

The Saanich Police Association says it can no longer stay silent and it's laying out a long list of dangerous situations where the CREST system has failed.

The Saanich police department is also questioning whether the system can even be fixed.

The following revelations come in a long statement written by Saanich Police Association president Steve Irwin.

That statement reads:

"I am the president of the Saanich police association and would like to clarify the position of my association members with respect to crest. Though the Victoria police association has taken the lead role in demanding better service from crest, our experience has also been unsatisfactory.

The crest radios have been responsible for adding two new words to 'police lingo'. The terms 'bonked' and 'garble' are used frequently to describe radio communications. Front line officers have been dealing with radio problems ever since the crest radios were introduced and report to me that they have seen no significant improvement.

As I understand it, crest is to provide radio communications to all emergency services in the south island and gulf islands. Maybe it is time to ask why? Do the local police need to communicate with the salt spring island volunteer fire department? In the event of an earthquake is the likely answer. How about designing a system that allows police to communicate with each other effectively first. Once that is achieved, then perhaps, crest could consider adding other user groups and extending the range of coverage.

The members of the spa have quietly stood in support of the Victoria police association. It is our intention to remain silent no longer. The officer safety issues that Victoria police are facing are not significantly different than our own. Though the Saanich police does not have a downtown core to service, the risk of a member of the public or an officer getting injured because the crest radio did not function properly is very real.

I attended a meeting in the fall of 2005 where crest users were told that an evaluation of the system would be done in the winter and the improvements in place before the summer of 2006. Here we are one year later and no significant improvements have occurred.

I was present at a crest meeting and was told that part of the problem with the portables is that they are positioned too close to the body and the antenna is under the arm. When crest and Motorola were designing the system, where did they think the radios were going to be positioned? Amazing to think that a police officer puts their portable radio in a holder on their belt. This location is close to the body and the antenna is often under the arm. Just like on the old radios which used to work quite well. Perhaps local police should wear hats like British bobbies, with the radio mounted on top?

Is the decision to remain with the current technology and spend 6 to 10 million dollars driven by science or politics?

Below are some of the experiences that spa members have shared with me:

- in 2004, when I was on the bike unit and assisting street crime with a drug file, we attempted to arrest a fleeing suspect who ran into the mall. I located him inside the 'grocery' store and attempted to arrest and handcuff the suspect. Needless to say, this suspect fought me hard and I was struggling trying to control him. I radioed my partners who were looking for me and were just outside the store. I got "bonked" and no citizens were coming to assist me. I yelled to the pharmacist to dial 911 and to tell dispatch that I was in trouble inside the store. I had to struggle with him for about four minutes until assistance came and in doing so I inadvertently separated the suspect's shoulder.

This is one of many places I have been bonked. As you know there are also places in the north zone, several buildings in Saanich , galloping goose and Lochside trails, and even in our own building (parts of the community liaison section to name one) Where the radios do not work.

- I have not noticed any changes in the crest radio system since they were first introduced. When the problems were first noted, we would inform dispatch when bonking or other radio issues occurred. After months/years of the same problems I think members get tired of making a report and not seeing any results. There are times when people are speaking over the radio and only part of their sentence is being transmitted and other times that some radios pick up the transmission but others do not. When listening to the radio, you will frequently hear dispatch inform members that their transmission was not readable. There are areas in Saanich that the radios regularly act up (the east) But the problem can occur in any area at any time, they are just not reliable. This is an officer safety issue, I know the bike squad members do not go out by themselves at night since you can not rely on the radios.

- in my experience crest does not work at 95% efficiency anywhere in greater Victoria. I first thought that only Victoria and some parts of Saanich have had issues but I can speak to having used crest all over greater Victoria now in the past two years in SCU and the system just simply does not work well. All over the CRD transmissions are garbled, broken, digital static and bonked. Scu spent time documenting the issues last year and all of us submitted numerous logs for deficiencies, I have sent memos too in the past when I was in tsu and have raised the issue several times at association meetings.

Every time I read the paper, watch the news or listen to cfax I am always hearing that "Saanich says they have some minor trouble but not as bad as Victoria" and having daily first hand experience with the system that statement frustrates me because it is hardly accurate.

I spent three months in the lower mainland this year working with an intelligence unit, that unit used the e-comm system. Not once in three months did the radio ever bonk, garble or warble. In short e-comm works, crest does not.

- from an patrol operational perspective, there have been so many incidents out on the road, where members try calling in and are "bonked" routinely...Officer safety issues abound, in my view. I think our members are fed up with the "reporting" of problem areas like we did in the beginning...Because nothing is getting done. Crest is a monumental failure in my view.

- I have not worked a single shift where these radios work 100 percent of the time. Any time I am in a large building, the portable radio is useless. Examples are home depot, Canadian tire, wall-mart, any grocery store and the entire Tillicum mall. It is the biggest officer safety issue we face and quite frankly, unacceptable.

If I filled out a crest trouble report for every time it didn't work, I would be filling out several of these every shift.

- I have heard the bonking and garbled transmissions on a regular and routine basis, and if we were to complete a trouble report for all the problems we are having we would not get much work done.

The bonking occurs almost randomly and everywhere. This can be from as close to the radio room as in the office to outside anywhere in the municipality. I was on a call at the town and country mall recently, walking along the store fronts and was continually bonked when trying to update dispatch and other units. The Tillicum mall and other malls are still a problem spot, as is the red lion when trying to transmit. I can go into a mall and often receive the intermittent beeping indicating the radio is "out of range".

I agree the problems we are dealing with are not as bad as what (Victoria City Police) is dealing with, but our problems should be dealt with. I did not have any where near the problems with the old radio system, and the battery life was much better. I also routinely have to change a battery during a shift, and when carrying a spare battery on the road is frowned upon, we are left with another officer safety issue of having no communications at all.

- I have some major concerns with the crest system in particular the "dead spot" issues. I have worked in a covert unit for the past 2 years and have deployed in various areas of Saanich and other municipalities. On more than one occasion, out team has lost our target due to the inability to acquire a signal on the crest system.

I understand that the issues and concerns seem to be more prominent in the downtown core, however I have experienced first hand, numerous areas in Saanich where the radios simply cannot be depended upon.

I hope to see the issues explored in depth and a possible change to a new system in the near future. Officer safety should always be the number one priority when choosing a radio system, and with crest it is only a matter of time until an officer's life is at risk due to a failing system.

- I cant remember the file number or the day of the incident but a member went off with a shoplifter in 'a grocery store' and ended up as a 10-33. The member couldn't even get reception to call for help. We didn't know about the trouble until after the situation was resolved and the soc was in cuffs. All a result of the member fighting the soc alone and without access to further help.

This is a huge concern. Our main responsibility as dispatch is officer safety and when the equipment fails, we can not complete our job successfully.

- I am finding that the radio's are spotty at best. While in the cedar hill x rd / Shelbourne area, the radios seem to bonk quite a bit. Arbutus rd and caddy bay are horrible for reception. One such instance had me calling for cover, however it was garbled beyond distinction. Inside our building, you cannot get reception in exhibits or quite frequently in the CST. Area.

In terms of equipment issues, the battery life seems to be decreasing in recent months. Its rare that I can go 5 or 6 hours on a battery now.

- personally, I have had a ton of trouble with the radio system and I think you've hit the nail on the head with your question about apathy setting in. I have not bothered to take the time to put failure reports in, otherwise it would be done on a daily basis, and frankly I'm already swamped with paperwork.

I get bonked at least 10 times a day; locations have varied, anywhere from the back of our office to hwy 17/Sayward. It gets really frustrating and obviously poses a huge risk as you never know when you may only get one chance at calling for help.

- in regards to the crest radio system, I can give you some feed back from a bike officer's point of view. The radio system failed regularly. Cst. .... And I would be conducting a check in Cuthbert Holmes park and both our radios would bonk. As per the news letter just released that recommended that we not wear the portable on our hips we would often take the portable out of the holder, hold it straight in the air, move it from side to side and it still would not connect. Then after putting it back in the holder it would randomly re-connect for some reason. I can not even estimate how many times the radios would not connect on a daily basis, however it would be daily. Sometimes it would be Cst ....'s portable, sometimes mine and then on occasion both portables.

Thank you for having the interest to report on this issue. If any other question arise, please do not hesitate to contact me."

Sincerely,

Steven Irwin