Officers with the Blaine (WA) Police Department will have special assistance from a group of trained and FCC-licensed radio operators when that small town on the Canadian border hosts its Christmas tree lighting ceremony on the first Saturday of December.
According to the Northern Light , a team known within the department as the Auxiliary Communications Service—consisting of 26 citizen volunteers—will use portable radios and ground stations to communicate on the ham-radio network to help with reporting on traffic flow, medical emergencies, and other information useful to public safety personnel.