The Guam Police Department is working to finally replace what's considered a vital tool in the event of a natural disaster such as a supertyphoon. Police Chief Steve Ignacio says there's an urgent need for a new centralized public safety communication system, as the current one is more than 30 years old.

"It's a very, very old system its called a legacy system, and so its just a system that really just needs to be replaced," said the chief of the existing comms platform. Specifically, he's talking about the Motorola land-based mobile radio system purchased and operated by GPD since the late-80's. It was designed to be able to connect key government agencies with one another during major disasters.

He says while its still operable, its no longer very reliable, adding, "It went down recently, I think in January of this year and it took us a couple of months to get that thing back up and running properly, and thanks to our current vendor Motorola for working us get that back up and running."

Current technology has long outpaced the system, and the Government of Guam has recognized the need for an upgrade as far back as 2008 when the first inter-operable communications working group was formed. But Ignacio says nothing ever really materialized, so in a recent executive order Governor Lou Leon Guerrero disbanded the old working group.

She also allocated $9 million in American Rescue Plan funds for a new system. And last week, GPD closed out the requests for proposals for a new consultant.

"This is going to be the central public safety communications for all of the Government of Guam. And that’s why as we move forward one of the things we’re going to be looking at that is how do we fit this communication system into the whole of government so that it meets our needs," explained the chief.

GPD, along with the Guam Fire Department, Home Security/Office of Civil Defense, and the Office of Technology will be meeting next week to review the consultant applications. Chief Ignacio hopes to have a new system design in the next 12 to 18 months.