Chair's Message

The CREST system continues to grow. As a result of work done with the new Oak Bay Beach Hotel developers and Oak Bay Council, coverage in South Oak Bay will be enhanced. Staff regularly pursue opportunities such as this to increase system coverage and reception. 

Welcome to new user - St. John Ambulance - taking us up to 39 agencies in the Capital Region that use the CREST system. 

At the CREST AGM, being held on June 15th at the CRD, we will be reporting on the company's audited financial statements and results of the past year. I'm pleased to report that CREST is financially stable, showing a small surplus at year-end. 

Forum Features BP Oil Spill

Over 50 users, shareholders and provincial organization reps participated in a forum to hear the radio communications lessons learned from the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year. The head of the State of Louisiana’s interoperability council talked about the issues faced by the 42,000 responders dealing with the devastating impact of one of the world’s largest oil spills.

Although the CREST system is designed, built and maintained to provide the needed technology and reliability in a disaster such as this, work needs to be done to ensure that user procedures and protocols for combined events are in place, that users are trained on radio use during large-scale events and that all the necessary players can use talk groups.

CREST agencies that have requested programmed radio frequencies for organizations such as the Coast Guard, Forest Service and the Gulf Island Emergency Program can access these groups on their CREST radios; however we will be working to include other Crown agencies as well. Training is being launched this fall to support user information needs, and CREST will continue to support users in establishing the needed policies and procedures for communicating with other emergency service providers.

The forum presenter and networking opportunities were evaluated very highly. East Sooke Fire Chief Roger Beck won a gift certificate to the Pacific Restaurant at the Grand Pacific Hotel in appreciation for completing the forum evaluation form. Click here to view the presentation.
 

User Tip

When police members are in another agency's jurisdiction, CREST recommends switching to their dispatch channel and advising the respective dispatch that you are in their area. Each agency has had their talk groups optimized to work best in their area of operation. This optimization helps improve radio coverage and reduce talk group busies when working in your jurisdiction. However, it means they don't perform as well when you leave your normal area of operations. Hence, the recommendation to switch channels. 

Equipment Purchase Financing Available

To help make system equipment affordable, CREST will provide financing for the purchase of portable radios, mobile radios, consoles and repeaters. For more information or to access this service, please contact General Manager Gord Horth. 

Coming Soon - On-line User Training

As a result of feedback from users on last year's satisfaction survey, CREST will be launching a series of on-line user training modules this fall. The preliminary modules will cover the XTS3000 portable and Astro Spectra mobile radios.