The New York Subway, one of the busiest subways in the world, has always faced serious obstacles when it comes to communicating information between underground police personnel and surface. Transport police officers stationed above ground were unable to communicate regularly with those working in the subway. Additionally, transit police were unable to communicate with other departments, organizations, and sometimes with each other during emergencies. Incompatibility between communication systems was the main reason for this recurring problem which left the Metropolitan Police struggling in terms of exchanging information with the outside world. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay An initial plan devised by the NYPD in the 1990s that came into action when two companies were jointly tasked with developing a new communications system for law enforcement operating both above ground and underground, almost a decade later. The project was expected to be completed by 2004 with a budget of $115 million. Part of the problem could have been solved by sharing the same frequencies, as surface and underground personnel used the frequency range for communication. Much of the problem still lay in transmitting signals from underground which required antennas, most of which were faulty or unusable. Radio signals traveling below ground level had to pass through a series of mazes and grids, so most of the signal deteriorated with distance. The contractors thought that amplifying the signals would allow them to overcome these obstacles with ease, but these actions raised several questions from experts from the beginning. After 7 years, 140 million dollars and several attempts, the judicial authorities found themselves with a system full of interference. The NYPD made it clear that they would not use a system riddled with interference in their field of operation. The implementation of the new system was suspended due to these problems, and their elimination came with an inflated budget of $210 million. There are a few reasons that contributed to the failure of the project. The contractors did not take into account the expert's opinion on the interference problem. The rationale behind this substantial failure lies in the way project managers continued even after experts pointed out the project's flaws. Instead of addressing the problem at hand and coming up with a new plan, they went into the project with little knowledge. Metropolitan Transport Authority (MTA) engineers were skeptical about using analog technology when much more reliable digital technology was at hand. The brute force of the amplifiers could not overcome all the obstacles inside the subway. This is one of the reasons why interference still prevailed within the system. Moreover, after the September 11 incident the authorities were worried and could not avoid such a huge flaw in the department. Political pressure was pushing project managers and contractors toward project completion. However, as things got worse and the project began to persist, police officers began using cell phones as a mode of communication. As Mark Bienstock, New York City's transit program manager, said: “What exists today is.
tags