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Tazewell County, IL

Tazewell County 911 Board

Tazewell County in the RadioReference Database

Tazewell County (IL) Wiki entry

Tazewell County is located in Central Illinois. Major cities in the county include East Peoria, Morton, and Washington.

Law Enforcement Communications Systems

A number of different communication systems are in use by the various law enforcement agencies in Tazewell County. The Tazewell County Sheriff's office uses an 800 MHz EDACS trunked radio system maintained by Ragan Communications. This system is also used by various rural police departments that are dispatched by the TAZCOM dispatch center. The East Peoria Police Department, Washington Police Department, and Morton Police Departments each operate their own independant UHF conventional radio systems and have their own dispatch centers.

Fire Service Communications

Like law enforcement communications systems in the county, fire service communications systems are somewhat fragmented. The Pekin Fire Department uses the TAZCOM 800 MHz EDACS trunked radio system. All other departments in the county use conventional VHF radio systems. However, there is no unified county-wide system. There are at least eight different VHF frequencies in use throughout the county for fire department paging and dispatch, in addition to the 800 MHz EDACS system used by Pekin.

Most fire department radio systems in the county do not utilize repeaters. Instead, simplex communication is used either direct from the dispatch center or by utilizing a remote base at the fire station. A typical system has a dedicated VHF radio at the fire station tied to a UHF link to the dispatch center. Since multiple departments and dispatch centers may be on the same VHF frequency, PL tones are used to activate the various UHF links at each fire station. Since the dispatcher only hears the traffic on the UHF link, it is common for a dispatch center to unknowingly "talk over" VHF traffic that they don't know is taking place.

ESDA Communications

The Tazewell County ESDA maintains a VHF repeater system and several VHF simplex frequencies. This VHF repeater system is used by several Tazewell County agencies (including animal control) during the daytime, but is used by ESDA for coordinating severe weather spotting.

Dispatch Centers

TAZCOM Communication Center (at Pekin)

  • Law Enforement Agencies
    • Pekin Police (800 EDACS)
    • Tazewell County Sheriff (800 EDACS)
    • Pekin Park Ranger (800 EDACS)
    • North Pekin Police (800 EDACS)
    • Marquette Heights Police (800 EDACS)
    • Tremont Police (800 EDACS)
    • Hopedale Police (800 EDACS)
    • South Pekin Police (800 EDACS)
    • Green Valley Police (800 EDACS)
    • Delavan Police (800 EDACS)
    • Minier Police (800 EDACS)
    • Deer Creek Police (also dispatched by WOODCOM) (800 EDACS and UHF)
    • Mackinaw Police (800 EDACS)
    • Armington Police (800 EDACS)
    • Pekin Police Auxiliary (800 EDACS)
    • Tazewell County Auxiliary (800 EDACS)
    • Tazewell County States Attorney Investigator (800 EDACS)
    • Tazewell County Probation (800 EDACS)
  • Fire/Rescue Agencies
    • Pekin (800 EDACS)
    • North Pekin (VHF)
    • Marquette Heights (VHF)
    • South Pekin (VHF)
    • Tremont (VHF)
    • Delavan (VHF)
    • Minier (VHF)
    • Schaefferville (VHF)
    • Green Valley (VHF)
    • Cincinnati (VHF)
    • Hopedale (VHF)
    • Mackinaw (VHF)

East Peoria PSAP

  • Law Enforcement Agencies
    • East Peoria Police Department (UHF)
  • Fire/Rescue Agencies
    • East Peoria Fire Department (VHF)

Washington PSAP

Morton PSAP

  • Law Enforcement Agencies
    • Morton Police Department (UHF)
  • Fire/Rescue Agencies

Interoperability

Interoperability in Tazewell County is most likely in the "minimal level" of the interoperability continuum as defined by SAFECOM. Cross-band interoperability, if required, is most often achieved by having multiple radios in a vehicle or even on a person. Agency-to-agency communication usually takes place through one or more dispatchers, rather than through direct unit-to-unit communications. Exceptions to this rule include fire service mutual aid events, in which the responding departments usually switch to the frequency of the department requesting aid. The MABAS fireground channels are used on a limited basis. The IREACH interoperability channel is rarely used for cross-discipline communications. Instead, it is used primarily by law enforcement for speed enforcement operations.