Overview
The Electronic Services Division (ESD) delivers public safety communication services and exemplary customer service to the Washington State Patrol and its partner agencies throughout the state of Washington. ESD operates and maintains the agency’s statewide land mobile radio (LMR), microwave, data, and voice (telephone) networks. ESD supports over 2,500 mobile and portable radios, 45 communications consoles at 8 communications centers, network connectivity to 63 offices and 2 data centers, and maintains over 120 communication sites statewide. ESD maintains partnerships with federal, state, and local agencies.
Key Measurements and Statistics
Successes of 2021
Land Mobile Radio (LMR) Upgrade:
ESD completed a system upgrade of our Land Mobile Radio system in November 2021. The entire effort was completed on time, on budget, and all objectives were met. The upgrade keeps the WSP statewide radio system up to date, improves reliability and security, and gives us the ability to adopt new features and functionality.
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) Upgrade:
The WSP has several legacy Inter-Tel phone systems in operation that are beyond end of life. Our team has made great progress this year to upgrade those phone systems to VoIP. Our team transitioned all of District 8 from Inter-Tel to VoIP; 71 new phones were rolled out within the district and detachment offices. In District 4, the Colville Detachment and District 3 Walla Walla Detachment have been transitioned. The Cheney Crime Lab received 32 new VoIP telephones. The Vancouver Crime Lab received 71 new VoIP telephones. This work set the foundation for the 2022 plan, which includes replacing all remaining Inter-Tel systems, to include the Seattle Crime Lab and Fire Training Academy.
LMR System Strategic Plan:
ESD received funding in this biennium to partner with a vendor to develop a holistic strategy to modernize our LMR system. The Request for Proposal (RFP) was posted in November 2021. Bids will be received from potential vendors in February 2022. The outcome will help WSP expand radio coverage using best practices both short term, 3-5 years and long term 10-12 years.
Network Connectivity Upgrades:
ESD continued to work with WaTech to complete the Dedicated Data Network (DDN) project to provide high speed, fiber based wide area network (WAN) connections to our 63 district offices, detachments, crime labs, and academies, scale houses/ports of entry and homeland security facilities statewide. During 2021, 16 WSP locations were cut over to the new circuits. This was significant to WSP as it increased the network capability at each of these locations and improved access to remote learning and remote conferencing capabilities, and enhanced transfer and viewing of in-car camera videos.
COVID-19 Pandemic:
COVID-19 continued to present challenges within ESD. Continuity of Operation Plans (COOP) were evaluated and updated to help mitigate potential gaps in services provided by our employees. With the vaccine mandate, ESD experienced an increase in staff vacancies. The priority for 2022 is to fill all of our vacancies. ESD continued to experience delays in receiving network equipment due to the ongoing supply chain issues.
Maintaining a State of Readiness:
We consistently identified ways to improve our ability to maintain a high state of readiness. Challenges included high winds, extreme heat, fire and snow. Some major weather event examples in 2021:
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- January 2021, winds of hurricane force hit the coast of Western Washington. WSP experienced major widespread power outages at WSP local and remote communication sites. All of our generators started and ran seamlessly, mitigating any system outages.
- In June 2021, Washington State experienced a historic heatwave with temperatures of over 100 degrees over multiple days. Several communication equipment rooms required supplemental portable AC units to be installed to keep critical equipment online.
- Wildfire season started in March of 2021. ESD monitored sites that were in danger of being consumed by fire. ESD employees received daily smoke particulate reports and implemented recommended safety precautions while working outdoors.
- Snow events at the beginning and end of 2021 impacted communication infrastructure at several local and remote locations. Heavy snow and ice caused damage to infrastructure, antenna systems, and caused degraded radio signals.
ESD proactively prepared for weather events by performing regular site inspections and performing preventative maintenance on radio and network equipment. We winterized our communication sites in September, making sure our generator fuel tanks were full for unexpected run times, and completed emergency supply inventories. ESD remote access vehicles were maintained and prepared to deploy in case of emergency/outage. ESD additionally strategically placed deployable HVAC units to respond to potential failures of on-site units.