Bourbon County sheriff says federal encryption mandate requires radio upgrades; consultants to assess costs

Sheriff Bill Martin addressed the committee to correct what he called incorrect information circulating after an earlier presentation about radio encryption and to outline next steps. Martin said the upgrade to encrypted radio communications is federally driven through CJIS (the Criminal Justice Information Services security requirements) and that the sheriff's office must comply to avoid jeopardizing grants and criminal-information access.

"This is a federal mandated request. This isn't by statute. It's federally mandated that our radios... have to be encrypted," Martin said, describing a multi-year push by federal authorities and the state to require AES-256 or equivalent encryption on public-safety radio systems. He said many of the county's portable radios were purchased in 2014 and that while some units are P25 compatible, the county lacks the complete, interoperable infrastructure needed to operate fully encrypted systems.

Martin described operational limitations and costs: mobile and portable units both must be compatible, and partial upgrades are ineffective because encrypted communications depend on both radios and the supporting radio infrastructure ("core"). He estimated a cost of roughly $10,000—$12,000 per pair of portable and mobile units in some vendor quotes and warned that replacing radios also requires upgrades to towers and backbone equipment.

To avoid premature vendor selection and to obtain an independent technical assessment, Martin said he had solicited three radio consultants to survey Bourbon County's public-safety communications infrastructure; two proposals had been received and a third was due the following week. After the consultants complete assessments, Martin said the consultant-reviewed options would be presented to public-safety stakeholders (sheriff's office, city police, EMS, fire, dispatch) and then to the commission with vendor options and cost estimates. "I'm taking a step back. I'm applying the brakes. I'm going out to consultants," he said.

Martin also discussed grant prospects and said competition for federal and state grants is intense; he identified a state-level grant program (described in the meeting as the Byron grant and as competitive) and said grant awards are decided by an evaluation panel that includes representatives of the attorney general and other state officials. He emphasized that grant funding is unlikely to cover full costs for many rural counties.

Martin urged the committee to include public-safety communications in the budget conversation and to account for multi-year costs and infrastructure needs rather than assuming a single-year purchase would solve the issue.

The committee did not take a formal funding action on radio upgrades at the meeting; Martin said he will convene stakeholders once the consultant bids are in and will present findings and options to the commission.