ELKINS — The Randolph County Commission requested this week that the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office gather more information about a Starlink communication system that Sheriff Rob Elbon wants to install in the county’s patrol units.

Elbon and Deputy Brian Roy appeared before the Commission Thursday, the second consecutive meeting that Elbon has inquired about Starlink.

Commissioner Cris Siler told the two officers that having Starlink available to the Sheriff’s Office was a “great idea,” but requested that the two come back with some more information at a future meeting.

“We will have to see if there is anything we can do,” Siler said. “I think it’s a great idea because communication has always been a problem. That’s always been a safety issue, whether it’s with first responders, a victim of a call, or whatever.

“Lack of communication can change the complete outcome of a call that would not necessarily be a bad call, but becomes one because of lack of communication. Let’s look at it and get us something together so we can see what we can do.”

Commissioner Chris See agreed that Starlink would be a valuable asset for the Sheriff’s Office, saying, “Let’s take a look at all the costs and we can go from there.”

Roy, who provided an information presentation about Starlink during Thursday’s meeting, said there is a one-time fee for the equipment, and that the cost was going to be around $1,000 per car, per year, with the service included.

“We would be running our APX portables off of it,” Roy said. “I gave you kind of a rough price off the website for Starlink and what the equipment cost. That would show if we were running 20 units and a year-round type deal. With the equipment costs, once we buy it, it’s ours.”

During a previous meeting earlier this month, Elbon reminded the county commissioners that for years his deputies have had a hard time communicating when in remote locations of the county.

“It’s a safety thing when it comes right down to it,” Elbon told the RCC. “These things go right on top of a cruiser and wherever that cruiser is sitting, there’s an area around it where we can use our new radios, which now have internet capabilities, to link into it…

“I saw the system work first hand and it’s amazing,” Elbon added. “If we go to Valley Head, really from Dailey up, we don’t have communications right now. This system (Starlink) right here opens the world up to you.”

During his presentation, Roy said the Sheriff’s Office recently did some tests with Starlink on the top of Cheat Mountain and had no problems communicating back-and-forth.

“We had a signal all the way up through there,” Roy said. “And that’s one of the worst places in the county, the base of Cheat Mountain all the way to the top… This system would help us in a lot of our dead zones and if we know we are going to the top of Cheat Mountain, we can click the Starlink on and connect our radios to it and you should have service all the way up.”

Roy said he recently spoke to officers in another county who started using Starlink and learned they have had outstanding results.

“I’ve talked to Mingo County and they have already implemented this, and they went from 40% of service to 80 or 90%,” Roy said. “They said that with that other 10 to 20%, if they stopped their car and let the satellite hit a little bit better, they would connect right back up.”

The Starlink system is a satellite internet constellation from SpaceX that uses a network of low Earth orbit satellites to provide high-speed internet access globally.

The next Randolph County Commission meeting is scheduled for Dec. 4 at 1:30 p.m.