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Residents raise EMS capacity and cybersecurity transparency concerns during public comment
Summary
Two residents urged clearer public communications about a county cyber incident and expressed alarm over fire/EMS capacity and health reports; board members acknowledged the concerns and said staff would review outreach and response options.
At the public comment portion of the July 28 meeting, resident Justin Goodman said he had seen post‑meeting reports that Prince George’s paid fire and EMS resources had been exhausted and warned that additional serious incidents could leave the county reliant on volunteers or mutual aid. He asked the board to fund body-worn cameras and expressed distress about what he described as a Parks & Recreation activity that put participants at risk. Goodman said some reports included health effects and pacemaker malfunctions tied, in his view, to transmission lines.
“...if there was another serious incident... we would be relying on volunteers,” Goodman said, urging the board to secure funding and improve response capacity. Tim Quist later criticized county web postings about a recent cyber incident as undated and hard for residents—especially those without internet access—to interpret. Quist asked for clearer public-facing dates and a citizen-focused debrief; he said the county should make information accessible beyond social media and TV placements. Board members said the closed-session briefing addressed immediate cybersecurity concerns and that staff would consider better outreach and dated posting practices.
