MIDLAND, Texas — Midland City Council approved a $17.5 million radio project for the Midland Police Department at the Dec. 13 meeting.
A new Motorola Astro P25 Interoperable Radio System will be implemented, which will allow more streamlined conversation between Midland Police and other departments such as the Odessa Police Department and Midland Sheriff's Department.
Along with this, more towers and radio systems will be applied throughout the city.
"It’s the hardware for the new towers and new systems that the city will put in place as far as hardware, and then it will also include the radio systems for the vehicles and officers to wear on their hip or their shoulder,” said city councilwoman and Mayor-Elect Lori Blong.
The $17.5 million will come from a combination of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and the General Funds. Specifically, $11 million will come from grant money provided by the ARPA Act while the other $6.5 million will come out of General Funds.
"A good portion of the money to fund this item that we had budgeted for comes from the ARPA funding we received from the federal government after COVID," Blong said. "There was funding that the federal government allocated for public safety and for infrastructure and other needs for local communities. So we’ve taken that money that we received from the federal government and allocated it towards this project.”
The need for better communication between agencies in critical moments was a key reason for the approval. Blong points out the active shooting situation in 2019 as a time that highlighted the need for better communication.
"That scenario really highlighted the need for our ability to communicate between agencies. We were not able to do that which created problems in 2019 with the active shooter situation. So with this purchase, it will allow the Midland Police Department to communicate with other regional agencies to do a better job of keeping our community safe.”