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ELKINS -- Sheriff Rob Elbon gave the Randolph County Commission an update on new equipment that the RCC provided funding for last year.
At its most recent meeting at the James F. Cain Courthouse Annex, Elbon told Commissioners Cris Siler, David Kesling and Chris See that the six Motorola 6000 portable radios the county purchased for his office have been distributed to deputies and were working well.
"We have no complaints with the new radios and how they are performing," Elbon said. "As a matter of fact, we gave two of those to our K-9 guys because they are always in situations somewhere, generally. Our three PRO officers and one of our night shift deputies also got one of the radios, and they are doing very well.
"Deputy (Tyler) Knotts was in Pickens the other day and he was talking on his portable back to Chief Deputy (Brad) Sharp, who was in his office. So they are working well and I want to thank you for getting those for us."
In September 2023, the Commission agreed to purchase the radios for the Sheriff's Office. Many of the old radios the RCSO had were at the end of their life, and parts to repair them were no longer available.
Another problem the RCSO ran into with the old radios was that the Prevention Resource Officer at Tygarts Valley High School, Rocky Hebb, had no way of communicating outside the school. Hebb was unable to get a signal on the old radios or on his cell phone at the school.
"We couldn't talk out and didn't have any cell phone range in Mill Creek at the high school," Elbon said. "With the new radio, Rocky can now walk from one end of the school, clear down into the middle school, and he has great communications. With the new radio, he's able to talk out now."
Elbon said he plans on ordering more replacement radios. The price for the six that the Commission approved back in September was $37,625.64.
"We are trying to decide if we are going to go with the 4000 series or 6000 series, based on what we are using them for," said Elbon. "There's no need to have a dual-head radio if we are only going to use one side of it. So if we can go with a single-channel radio, we can get seven or eight for the price we pay for six of the others.
"We are trying to get the most bang for the buck with the money that you gave us with the new budget. After we get the new ones, that will increase up to at least 12 of those. The new ones we have are working well and we are looking forward to getting some others."