North Birmingham Times

Recently, the Walker County Commission voted to allow the Walker County Sheriff’s Office to upgrade our radio communication system on our existing network. 

Safety and security of our deputies is at risk utilizing the current smart phones for radio communication. A new device has been released that is only used for radio communication. Unlike previous devices,  device does not receive phone calls (spam phone calls come in during traffic stops and searches for suspects) and does not have a smart phone operating system where the radio app can crash while a deputy is handling an incident (at times a reboot of the smart phone is required to talk to dispatch or other deputies).

The new devices still operate on cellular towers but is the best option until the entire communication network can be upgraded.

Original source can be found here.