A Power Play of a Different Kind

Most of us who are even remotely familiar with professional hockey and how it’s played are familiar with the term “power play.”  It’s when one team is down a player due to a penalty and the other team has a temporary manpower advantage playing five to four.  That’s now what this is about.

The term has also sometimes been used to reference political maneuvers and strategies in warfare / combat, describing a particularly strong move against an enemy or opponent.  To that extent, some have even referenced various terrorist activities as “power plays” within the confines of supporting their cause.  That’s now what this is about either.  However, a terrorist act – the bombing of the Boston Marathon – IS related to this story and, in fact, was the cause of the circumstances that generated this event.

With the mainstream media finally calming down about the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and the “show” that surrounded his trial – from jury selection to trial to sentencing – we can focus on some of the “behind the scenes” events that occurred; and one of them is pretty interesting: a power play of a different sort.

For decades now, law enforcement officers have faced the challenge of keeping their portable radios sufficiently powered.  Rechargeable batteries have developed, coming a long way, but largely still dependent on having a charger in the police officer’s patrol vehicle.

On the night of April 18^th, while the Tsarnaev brothers were being hunted and officers were on duty well past their normally scheduled shifts, a problem developed:  their portable radios were dying.  Spare batteries couldn’t be recharged fast enough.  Communications were falling apart and as anyone who has done emergency services work knows, communications are critical to a successful conclusion.  The law enforcement professionals on the scene needed a solution and they needed it RIGHT NOW.

A plea for assistance went out.  It wasn’t a request for manpower. It wasn’t a request for radios.  It was a request for batteries that were already charged, would work with the radios being used and enough spare batteries to replace each battery as it died.  In other words, the call was for a LOT of batteries; enough to provide power to portable radios for the next 24 - 48 hours so that the replacement batteries could be recharged and a cycle could begin.  Everyone hoped the search wouldn’t go on that long, but reality was no one knew how long it would take.  It would go on “until further notice” and they need batteries to power their radios for an equally long time:  until further notice.

As circumstances worked out, a representative from Impact Power Technologies happened to be in the region and had about 100 of their lithium polymer batteries on hand, charged and ready to rock.  The “power play” was 100 batteries that have an average life well over 20 hours, delivered on short notice.  The “power play” was relatively new battery technology (lithium polymer) that not only provided what was required to law enforcement personnel on the ground, but also the window of opportunity they needed to get their other batteries charged and ready for use when they’d be needed.

THIS is the kind of “behind the scenes” story you won’t see on mainstream media.  The challenge of powering portable radios during critical incidents isn’t one that matters to most of society – until the time they need emergency response and THEY depend on the police officer having a radio that works. If it weren’t for the coincidence of Impact Power Technologies having the batteries available and being in the area, the outcome of that manhunt might have turned out different. I, for one, am very glad it didn’t.

Check out Impact Power Technologies online and see if their batteries might be right for your agency.  They are, after all, terrorist tracking proven. Stay safe!