Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Radio Encryption topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
County to buy Motorola software to encrypt law-enforcement radio traffic under FBI guidance
Summary
Emergency Communications recommended and the board approved a $295,820.69 Motorola Solutions software purchase to program and encrypt approximately 3,500 radios to comply with an FBI policy requiring encryption of criminal justice information transmitted outside physically secure locations; participating agencies provide a 10% match.
The Board approved a $295,820.69 purchase from Motorola Solutions to provide software upgrades and programming to encrypt law-enforcement radio transmissions so Sedgwick County can comply with an FBI policy about protecting criminal justice information transmitted outside secure locations.
Laura Forshey, director of emergency communications, said the project is funded by a grant with a required 10% local match by participating agencies, and that programming began with larger agencies such as Wichita Police, the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office and Derby Police. "We are working through this grant process...we are cleaning up their inventory and in that programming we are identifying radios that they had missed in their initial inventory tracking that will need to be encrypted," Forshey said, explaining this secondary order will bring those radios into compliance.
Forshey said the total upgrade will affect about 3,500 radios and the county is operating within the state-approved grant dollar amounts and quantities; agencies are reimbursing the county for their 10% match. The board moved and approved the Motorola quote after brief discussion about public availability of radio frequencies and the security benefits of encryption.
