NC city to build wireless network for police, fire

Officials say people surfing the web on smart phones has led to problems for police and fire departments

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By PoliceOne Staff

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — City officials hope to finalize a contract within a week that will create a wireless network for first responders.

As more people surf the Internet on smart phones, police and fire compete for the same bandwidth, so city officials are working on a contract with Alcatel Lucent to build a 4G network, WFAE News reported. Since it will be exclusively for public safety, lines of communication will not risk jamming from civilian use.

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"By creating a parallel system we're gonna be able to assure that our public safety folks will have ready access to each other," Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx said.

A federal stimulus grant of nearly $17 million will finance most of the cost, and City Council is scheduled to approve the contract on September 26th.