Towamensing OKs communications tower near barracks

The board of supervisors of Towamensing Township gave Pennsylvania State Police the green light for an 80-foot communications tower near its Lehighton barracks.

The proposed tower, which state police received permission to erect on one side of the station at 9170 Interchange Road, should amplify the currently employed P-25 public radio system, the most recent of such systems used by state police.

The first system, called OpenSky, is currently being phased out, Ryan Tarkowski, state police communications director, wrote in an email. The state police dropped OpenSky because of technical issues.

The system stymied law enforcement efforts in the 2014 manhunt of Eric Frein, who evaded police for nearly two months after killing one officer and injuring another in Pike County. Frein was found guilty in the attack at the Blooming Grove barracks and subsequently was sentenced to death.

According to Auditor General Eugene DePasquale — who began investigating the state police’s 20-year and $800 million attempt to make OpenSky work in 2016 — the system was so unreliable some officers resulted to using their cellphones rather than radios.

Tarkowski said the P-25 system is currently being used in 70% of the state; it will be completely deployed by 2021.

In Towamensing, communication towers are regulated under conditional use, said zoning officer Carl Faust. The tower was initially brought up in front of the township’s planning board in January before being subjected to a conditional use hearing in front of supervisors. That hearing took place last Thursday, directly before the board’s regularly scheduled monthly meeting.

Faust said state police met all but two of Towamensing’s conditional use requirements outlined in an ordinance.

Normally, communication towers must stand away from a structure and be surrounded by shrubbery. But in this case, the tower needs to stand against the barracks.

Encircling it in underbrush could provide cover to possible assailants planning an attack on police, Vincent Uglialoro and Shawn Carter, the two radio communication specialists who represented state police at the hearing on Feb. 6, pointed out.

Taking those points into account, township Supervisors Guy Seifert, Scott Mosier and John Kleintop gave state police the go-ahead to put up the tower under one condition: If the state police decommissions the Lehighton barracks, it must also take down the tower.

“It needs to happen,” Seifert said after the vote.

“If they can’t talk to each other, they can’t do their jobs.”