BLOOMINGTON - Complaints of radio communication failures during a July 3 incident at State Farm Insurance Cos. headquarters now have yielded a four-point plan to correct the problem, officials said Friday.

After two meetings in two days, Bloomington Police Chief Roger Aikin, McLean County Sheriff Mike Emery and Normal Police Chief Kent Crutcher issued a statement Friday afternoon that was sent to Bloomington and Normal mayors and council members.

"The group came to an agreement that a communication protocol between the law enforcement agencies and fire departments will be developed. The protocol would be for use in any multi-agency incident in the future," said the statement.

The July 3 false alarm involved more than 100 officers from several police and emergency service agencies who responded to a possible gunman at State Farm. Emery and Crutcher complained after what ended up being an unintended exercise that Bloomington officers inside the building were unable to communicate with emergency responders outside.

Friday's statement came after two meetings this week between officials from the sheriff's department, the Bloomington and Normal police departments, state police and State Farm.

In comments after the statement's release, Crutcher noted that a long-term solution is needed to avoid a breakdown in radio communications during a crisis involving emergency responders from multiple agencies.

"The short-term plans do not replace the need for a more in-depth solution to communications systems currently in place," said Crutcher, who added that Emery agreed with him on that statement.

Normal Mayor Chris Koos said he was happy that "they're working to refine a joint response to crisis situations."

At Thursday's meeting, police officials focused on specific concerns raised by the sheriff and Normal police chief about compatibility issues between the two radio systems. Bloomington police then met with State Farm representatives Friday to discuss the radio situation.

Friday's meeting between police and State Farm "was a mutual exchange of positive ideas from both entities," said police.

State Farm spokesman Fraser Engerman said: "We had a good meeting. A lot of items of mutual interest were discussed so in totality we are better prepared."

Engerman reiterated that the company was pleased with how the July 3 incident was handled.

"We felt cooperation by all law enforcement was very good," said, adding that any police communication issues were a matter for law enforcement.

Topping the list of four goals was a plan "to have a communication protocol in place to ease concerns of communication issues at large scale events."

The goals outlined in the meeting summary also include multi-agency training and exercises to make certain a patch system designed to bridge communications between the radio systems is effective.

Bloomington "will commit to work with their vendor and upgrade when new technology becomes available" for the patch system, according to the statement.

Not addressed in the statement was the issue of communication between police officials, an issue raised by Bloomington officials who said they were caught off-guard by remarks made by Crutcher and Emery to the media about the radio system's performance.

The controversy over radio systems stems back to 2004 when Bloomington voted to leave Metcom, the countywide emergency phone and dispatch center. City officials argued that more oversight was needed of dispatchers.

In May 2006, the city of Bloomington opened its own, $2.2 million disptach center at the city police department for police, fire and rescue squad communications.

In addition to having a separate dispatch center, Bloomington also has a separate radio system. McLean County and Normal officers and other Metcom agencies use the Starcom 21 radio system, a statewide system that allows officers from multiple jurisdictions to talk to one another.

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Four goals

Following are the goals released after two meetings on radio dispatch issues:

1. Have a communication protocol in place to ease concerns of communication issues at large scale events. Additionally, the communication protocol will address the patch between the two systems as BPD will commit to work with its vendor and upgrade when new technology becomes available.

2. Hold a multiagency training event to practice tactics and exercise the communication protocol.

3. Have each agency's emergency response team hold joint training sessions.

4. Educate staff on what is available to each agency through Illinois Emergency Management Agency, Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System and Emergency Management Agency.