Bartlesville Police Department Upgrading Radio System

The Bartlesville Police Department (BPD) is getting new 800 MHz radios that they say will help officers do their jobs better and help keep them safe. It was part of a general obligations bond that Bartlesville citizens voted on back in 2020.

The biggest issues BPD officers say they are facing in the field, is that their old handheld radio system makes it difficult for officers to reach dispatch.

With a lot of new construction that has gone up around Bartlesville recently, the old VHF radios that BPD has been using no longer get the job done effectively. Bigger cities, such as Tulsa and Oklahoma City, have been using the 800 MHz radios to help first responders communicate with each other, even around tall buildings.

BPD Captain Jay Hastings hopes that the new radio system will also allow BPD to connect to other agencies both in and around Bartlesville as well.

"There’s been a lot of growth. We’ve got a lot of call volume with the city of Bartlesville for the police department, and we’re hoping that once we get the infrastructure in place that other agencies will be able to come on board and join us," Hastings said.

Hastings also hopes that the new system will produce even quicker response times, which are essential for first responders.

"The officers all the time are having to use their handheld radio to communicate with dispatch so that’s their lifeline, and so it’s a very important tool that we use. So we need to make sure that we have the proper communications," Hastings said.

Hastings anticipates that it will take roughly nine to 12 months before the infrastructure is in place for BPD to start using these new radios.