Delaware County completes multi‑year P25 public‑safety radio upgrade, officials say project came in under budget

Director Ed Beebe of Delaware County’s Department of Emergency Services told council the county’s decades‑old analog 500 MHz radio system has been replaced with a Project 25 (P25) digital trunked platform and is fully operational as of January. Beebe said the upgrade improves coverage inside buildings and underground, enables encryption for sensitive law‑enforcement communications, adds redundancy and failover capability and greatly improves interoperability with Pennsylvania State Police, Philadelphia and neighboring counties.

Why it matters: County leaders said the P25 platform will make first responders safer by reducing dead spots, improving mutual‑aid communications during pursuits and major incidents and enabling clearer, more reliable voice transmissions. Officials and technical staff highlighted that the new architecture supports many more trunk channels and the system is designed for a 25‑plus‑year operational lifespan.

The project’s scale, timeline and cost: Technical staff and speakers at council described a multi‑year effort that included an RFP process and vendor partnerships (transcript references to JVC Kenwood and EF Johnson/ATLAS technology). Project presentations said the county began planning around 2020 and that the all‑in budget started at approximately $38 million and finished near $35 million, leaving the project roughly $3 million under the originally planned cost. Council members also noted state assistance, with references to roughly $6,000,000 in state dollars secured through the delegation and a separate announcement citing $4,600,000 in funding for improvements; officials described a mix of grants and bond proceeds used to finance the capital work.

What officials said: "Upgrading the county's public safety radio network is about protecting lives and ensuring reliable communication when it matters most," Director Ed Beebe said in the presentation, adding the system was finished on time and within budget. A council member who helped lead the project called it a "momentous occasion," noting it was six years in the making and represented a significant investment in county infrastructure.

Implementation and next steps: Officials said the county replaced handheld and mobile radios for police, fire and EMS, added paging solutions for fire/EMS, and deployed 21 redundant sites across the county to eliminate dead zones. The county’s emergency operations and planning staff will continue testing and fine‑tuning coverage; attendees praised the DES team, parks and public‑works staff, and the state delegation for their roles.

Context and funding oversight: Council members emphasized the large capital nature of the work and thanked the state delegation (transcript referenced Senator Tim Kearney and Representative Krueger) for assistance securing a RACP/grant that offset costs. Officials said they had solicitors, finance and broker services review contracts and that project procurement and spending were subject to standard public‑sector reporting and oversight.

End note: The county held a ribbon‑cutting this morning and council members said the upgrade will allow Delaware County to operate interoperably with neighboring jurisdictions and to support first responders for decades. No formal new action on the radio project was required at the meeting; council proceeded with its regular agenda afterward.