Officers with the Brookhaven Police Department are now able to better communicate with other area law enforcement agencies.

Police Chief Kenneth Collins recently purchased a new radio system for his department which allows him and his officers to be on the same system as Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office and Mississippi Highway Patrol.

The new MsWIN system was purchased for the financed price of $187,796 with the first payment of $42,370 due Dec. 15, 2018. When the police department makes the last payment Dec. 15, 2022, it will have paid $24,050 in interest.

The radio systems in about 40 cars were being switched out last week, Collins said.

“We’ll be able to talk to the sheriff and other agencies,” he said.

That’s useful when the agencies are on a call together. Collins talked about the need for the system for the police department while he was campaigning for the police chief office earlier this year. Then in May, Brookhaven police assisted Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office during a mass shooting that was allegedly committed by one suspect. The only way for the two agencies to communicate was through cell phones or radioing dispatch to act as a go-between to take and deliver messages.

That can waste valuable time, he said.

When he was elected in June, he made new radios a priority.

“When you have an emergency or a tragedy or anything, you ought to be able to communicate with each other,” he said. “Criminals have no boundaries. They cross into the city and back into the county. This way we’ll be able to talk to each other and get information first hand. We can talk to them directly rather than trying to call them on the phone.”

He said information also has a tendency to change when it’s passed from person to person.