9 Investigates school resource officer radio failures on campus

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Local school resource officers are the first line of security for students, but the officers told 9 Investigates they don’t have all the tools to keep children safe.

Law enforcement rely on radios to communicate in emergencies, but Channel 9's Shannon Butler learned the radios don't always work inside the classroom.

“You have a situation where the radio frequency has difficulty getting out of those structures,” said Capt. Angelo Nieves, with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

The problem with the radios was discussed in a final report of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting massacre. Although the radio issues didn't hinder the efforts of police that day, it did point out an issue at that school and many others across the county.

School resource officers in Orange County told 9 Investigates that they would like a fix for the radios.

“Do you understand their concerns?” Butler asked.

“Definitely. It's definitely a concern for us to make sure our radios work no matter where they are,” Nieves said. “Whether it's in a vehicle, on our hip or inside schools.”

Officers and deputies have backup systems just in case, like wearing a second radio, using a cellphone and an emergency button that can be pushed in case of emergency.

School resource officers told 9 Investigates that they shouldn’t have to do all that. They said their radios are vital and they should work all the time. They said all the radios should have a repeater, which is used to strengthen a signal.

9 Investigates learned the issue with adding a repeater is lack of money. The Orange County Fire Department in 2007 asked for vehicle repeaters, which costs more than $139,000 for 15 of them.

9 Investigates learned the costs would be much more for schools, but it’s unclear how much more. The school district said it has not done any cost analysis for repeaters.

In an email from the district, a spokesperson said in a statement. "We are aware that repeaters need replacing in some of the older buildings, but we have quite an aggressive building program that will allow for replacement or building of new technology that may replace repeaters over time. I just can't say for a fact we have done a cost analysis, as we have not.”

The sheriff's office said it does not keep a list of the dead zones at schools, but even if it did, that information would not be made public.

Cox Media Group