County staff ask that $1.3 million radio upgrade be added to 2026 public‑safety budget after repeated coverage failures

LaSalle County public‑safety and dispatch staff asked the Finance Committee on Sept. 15 to include about $1.3 million in next year’s public‑safety budget to replace the county’s aging portable and mobile radios after recent incidents in which deputies could not reach dispatch.

The request follows multiple incidents this spring and summer in which officers struggled to call for backup or report their locations because of poor reception. "When they cannot reach dispatch, their chances of having a catastrophic incident increase exponentially," a dispatch representative told the committee. She summarized the rationale this way: "The expense to replace the outdated equipment is well worth the investment knowing that we are saving the lives of our deputies and bringing them home to their families at the end of the day."

County staff and Motorola Solutions representatives demonstrated an Apex Next model and said the radios combine a P25 radio core with LTE capability so a radio that cannot reach a radio tower will attempt an LTE path back into the county talk groups. Motorola described features that county staff said improved coverage in field tests: automatic switching to LTE or Wi‑Fi when conventional radio coverage failed, an integrated location display, over‑the‑air programming, and so‑called "talk assist" voice…