For his assistance in resolving major incidents with University Public Safety in August and September 2022, Chief of Police Angela Coonce awarded Craig Hager two Awards of Excellence accommodations.
On August 24th, Washington University Police Department (WUPD) officers were unable to communicate via WUPD radios due to public safety radio interference. It was discovered that the University’s Public Safety Radio was experiencing illegal carrier interference, which caused it to sometimes go off the air, preventing police officers from communicating with dispatch. An officer’s radio is their lifeline while on duty. The inability of officers to communicate via their radio poses a threat to life and to the safety of the WU community. The team had difficulty locating the source of the interference since the origin was unknown. Craig marshaled a team to include members of University Police Department, AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Zagarri Engineering, St. Louis County Police, Motorola, and On Air Solutions to work together to try and identify the source of the illegal carrier. After weeks of intense brainstorming, the interference abruptly stopped after countless hours, days, and nights spent troubleshooting and testing various components of the radio network. Craig and his team along with University Police continues to investigate possible causes.
Dispatch consoles at University Police Dispatch experienced phone interruptions on September 13th, making it impossible for callers to hear WUPD Dispatchers. The University’s Dispatch phone system plays a crucial role in providing life safety support to its community. Together with University Police Department, WashU IT Telecom, Motorola, and Craig worked into the evening and into the early morning to identify and resolve the issue.
WashU IT is proud to support University Public Safety and assist with incidents across the University. We are grateful for Craig’s quick response and active measures to ensure critical customer service to users at any time, and we congratulate him on these excellent awards.