A storm in February 2021 damaged the cell tower and equipment hosting emergency radio communications for law enforcement in Cyril, OK. As KFOR-TV reports, a year later, officers are still unable to use their police band radios while they wait for Lawton Communications to complete repairs.
Caddo County Sheriff Spencer told the news station that he has been in contact with Lawton Communications and has been told that repairs will be completed in March or April. Spencer confirmed Lawton’s assertion that the delay has been “strictly a supply chain issue.”
In the meantime, police officers have had to keep working without their secure channel and handheld radios. “Our handheld radios are our lifeline for dispatch and other officers to hear us, and if we do not have one, they can’t hear what’s going on, what we’re dealing with or if we’re in an altercation,” Cyril Police Chief, Makinzie Ash told KFOR-TV. “That’s not exactly a great time to have a radio go down.”
Ash expressed her hope the repairs will be completed soon, noting, “It’s not just for myself or the officers in this department. It is all departments in this area. I do not want to stand on an officer’s doorstep and tell them and their family that they’re not coming home due to a tower not being fixed.”
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