Connecticut State Police Communications and Equipment

In addition to the trunked radio system, CTS also maintains a statewide microwave network. This network interconnects the radio sites and provides fax and voice communications to each troop and other state locations with a private telephone system.

Secondary Communications

ICALL/ITAC

The state has a statewide ICALL/ITAC system in place at various tower site locations throughout the state. The system can be turned on/off remotely from the message center as the need arises. When the system was installed during the trunked system rollout, each PSAP in Connecticut was issued a control station (ASTRO Spectra W7 Consolette) and portable radio to communicate on it as needed.

SPAN

The SPAN channel (State Police Access Node) is channel 52 in the CSP radios. This is a statewide talkgroup that is primarily used for PSAPs to talk to the CSP or other agencies through the state system. This channel is present on the PSAP consolette radios.

CSPERN

CSPERN is the Connecticut State Police Emergency Radio Network. This is a statewide simulcast analog/repeater channel. Any police agency in Connecticut may use an 800Mhz radio to talk to any other police agency in Connecticut on this channel.

Any of the above channels or trunked talkgroups are able to be patched into any other. For instance, it would be possible to patch Troop A channel 01 into CSPERN for a major event so that local police could talk to Troop A troopers seamlessly.

Equipment

Currently known subscriber units being used are:

ASTRO Spectra W4 (widely used) XTS3000 M2 (widely used) XTS5000 M2 (primarly issued BCI/ESU/etc) APX7500 (issued with new cars at Troop H, I, G, F, A)

APX7000's and ASTRO Sabers have been used at one time or another on the system during testing and trials.

The system is encyption capable (DES-OFB) and is used rarely. "Rank and file" troopers do not have encryption boards in their radios. Such radios are issued to those assigned to BCI, ESU, Narcotics and the like. The APX7500 radios are coming with ADP encryption as a standard feature, but is not currently enabled.

State Police cruisers are GPS and laptop equipped. Most vehicle use a Panasonic CF-29 or CF-30 (or newer) touchscreen laptop interfaced with a cellular modem. CSP uses LEAS CAD/RMS from NexGen Solutions located in Middletown Connecticut.

Administration

As of this writing, Paul Zito is the current system administrator and director of communications for CTS. Under his command is the Network Control Center or "NCC" on the radio.

This is the "NOC" for the radio system and help desk for the state police. Not only does the NCC monitor the system health, but they are the point of contact for vehicle trouble, laptop/CAD issues, phone trouble and the like. The NCC is not to be confused with the State Police Message Center. The message center is staffed with state police dispatchers and handles headquarters and other statewide communications. The NCC staff are not dispatchers.