DAPHNE, Ala. — Capt. Danny Bell of the Daphne Police Department asked the City Council Monday about potentially using funds from the British Petroleum oil spill grant to absorb the cost of a new radio system for the entire city to enhance communication.

“I propose the city use the BP money for individual radios and bring everybody on board at the same time,” Bell said.

Bell said the Nextedge radio system is “state of the art,” its applications are “mind-boggling” and the communication method “far exceeds anything we have now.”

Councilman Derek Boulware said the city has around $550,000 left from the $965,000 grant, which the council recognized the second half of at the Feb. 7 council meeting.

“The BP money could absorb the entire cost of this system,” Boulware said.

Bell said the fire department has a grant to cover the cost of bringing in the system to its offices, but the rest of the city could be on board for $306,000 more.

The departments that would be included in the system are the police department, the fire department, public works, the parks and search and rescue.

Bell said the system would allow an officer to be in a foot chase of a suspect through the woods and other officers could locate him with GPS.

Other features include noise reduction to allow an officer to speak clearly on the radio even when there is loud background noise, and it’s secure against electronic eavesdropping.

Councilwoman Cathy Barnette raised the point that some residents have applications or technology that allow them to monitor where a police officer is, and questioned whether the new system would be as vulnerable to third-party interference.

“Certain individuals that we don’t want knowing what we’re doing can hear us coming down the street,” Bell said of the current system, noting that Nextedge would keep residents from being able to detect officers.

“It’s actually scrambled to where you cannot hear what we’re saying, and it can only be unscrambled if you’re at either end of the transmission.”

Bell said the system also allows an officer to send an alert to the entire department or temporarily disable the radio if someone other than an officer picks it up.

“The system also allows me to prioritize users. I can assign a higher priority to a supervisor, so if any reason a supervisor wants to get on the air and other officers are talking, he can get on there first,” he said. “It also allows me to send alerts for when I’m too hurt to talk, so I can hit a button to alert.”

Bell said the Bay Minette and Foley Police Departments have the system, and the sheriff’s office is working toward a countywide system.

“We’ve talked to Foley and they highly endorse the system,” Bell said.

Councilman Derek Boulware said this type of project would “fall in line with the spirit of the original grant request” to spend the funds on emergency situations and services.

“I could see the city asking for re-allocation of funds for this specific purpose,” he said.

Councilman Ron Scott said the request is something he is “in favor of” and hopes it “comes to fruition.”

“It fits in really well because the fire department got a grant that will pay for the towers to support radio system,” he said, noting the communication system would bring everybody together in a time of emergency and would be beneficial.

“I think it’s excellent not only with the police department but the public works folks because they’re critical in an emergency situation. We can have the entire city in a communication network.”