OHP, OKC Police Radios Integrated 9 Years After Tragic Wreck

The Oklahoma City Police Department has opened ways of communication with the rest of the state, nine years after one of their own collided with Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper killing them both.

Tuesday, September 8th 2009, 9:30 pm

By: News 9


By Kirsten McIntyre, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Oklahoma City Police Department has opened ways of communication with the rest of the state, nine years after one of their own collided with an Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper killing them both.

On August 31, 2000 Oklahoma City police officer Jeffrey Rominger was in pursuit of a car going the wrong way. Moments later, Rominger and OHP trooper Matt Evans collided, killing them both. Shortly after the accident, officials discovered the officers had no way of communicating with each other on their radios.

The tragedy sparked an effort to get a state-wide radio system in place for all public safety to talk and listen to each other.

"This was obviously a catalyst in developing this communication we now have between ourselves and OHP," said Oklahoma City Police Sgt. Jennifer Wardlow.

Now, exactly nine years after the accident, Oklahoma City police can be heard on the state's radio system making them interoperable with the OHP and other metro departments.

"For example, the other day I was going down the road and we had an OHP call that a city officer heard, put out and was able to respond before a trooper got there. So we're having faster service to the public," said Chris West, OHP.

Kerry Pettingill is the director of the Office of Homeland Security. Per the governor, his department is in charge of getting all first responders on a radio system where everyone can communicate.

"I would estimate today we're probably $100 million in infrastructure alone away from having the coverage in the state," Pettingill said. "Money is always the big challenge."

But despite costs, Wardlow said the new communication is a great benefit for the entire state.

"This is obviously very important for us to be able to communicate with other agencies to be able to share pertinent information that could, in essence, save lives," Wardlow said.

For now, only officers from the Sante Fe Division in south Oklahoma City can talk to officers from other departments. The Oklahoma City Police Department said they hope they will have everything in place within the next several months for the remaining departments.

Oklahoma City's radio system cost about $32 million.

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