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Committee approves Homeland Security grant to buy replacement bomb robot after long service life of current unit
Summary
The committee approved a Homeland Security grant allowing MPD to obtain a modern large‑scale bomb robot; the existing primary robot was described as 22 years old and intermittently inoperable, and the new robot will be interoperable with county and state squads.
Milwaukee Police Department Bomb Squad Sergeant Izzo told the committee the department's primary large bomb robot is roughly 22 years old and had been out of service intermittently; the squad has a smaller secondary robot but sought a modern, interoperable replacement funded by a Wisconsin Homeland Security grant (file 241364).
Sergeant Izzo said the department's primary robot had been nonfunctional for approximately six months in the recent past and that maintenance and catastrophic‑event repairs are performed in‑house when possible. He explained interoperability plans: the state intends for agencies to operate compatible models so squads can use each other's robots during emergencies; Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department and other agencies in the state are expected to receive similar replacements under the same grant program.
Committee members asked about replacement timing, maintenance costs, and whether this robot supplements county capabilities. Izzo said in‑house maintenance costs are not substantial and that having two nearby agencies with functioning robots is beneficial for redundancy. The grant will fund the purchase and auxiliary attachments; the transcript does not give a contract price or grant amount.
Alder Taylor moved adoption; hearing no objections the committee ordered acceptance and funding of the grant.
