Governor Hogan Makes Ceremonial Call On “Maryland FiRST” Marking Completion Of The Third Phase Of New Statewide 700 MHz Radio System

(Annapolis, MD) – Today, Governor Larry Hogan joined Superintendent of the Maryland State Police Colonel William Pallozzi, Deputy Secretary Lance Shine of the Maryland Department of Information Technology, Maryland FiRST Team and other state and local officials to make the ceremonial call marking the completion of the third phase of the Maryland First Responders Interoperable Radio System Team or “Maryland FiRST” while demonstrating the system’s capabilities.

“As governor, I am committed to making sure that our law enforcement, firefighters, and first responders are equipped with the proper laws, the newest technology, and the full support of our entire administration,” said Governor Hogan. “Maryland FiRST is an exciting, innovative achievement for Maryland. It increases safety for our heroes, and allows for more effective coordination at incidents and a greater level of public safety services for our citizens.”

“This new statewide radio system allows all of Maryland’s public safety agencies to communicate more efficiently on the same system, which ultimately means increased safety for our first responders and an increased level of public safety services for our citizens,” said Colonel William Pallozzi, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police. “The Maryland FiRST system has fundamentally changed how first responders from every level of government are able to communicate with each other. Reliable and instantaneous communications for public safety mission critical communications is of utmost importance.”

This third phase of Maryland FiRST is fully operational and completes the coverage of Central Maryland. The connection will covers Cecil, Harford, Baltimore, Anne Arundel, Howard, Carroll and Frederick Counties. The first phase of the project began in 2012 and connected portions of Central Maryland and Kent County, and key infrastructure patrolled by the Maryland Transportation Authority Police to include: the I-95 corridor, BWI Airport, Port of Baltimore, the Inter County Connector (ICC), the Key Bridge, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, the Harry Nice Bridge and both tunnels under the Baltimore harbor.

In 2013, phase two of the project completed coverage of the entire Eastern Shore region. The last two phases of the Maryland FiRST system will include Western and Southern regions of the state as well as Prince Georges and Montgomery Counties. The system also allows for regional interoperability with Pennsylvania, Virginia, Delaware and West Virginia.

“Maryland is leading the way in interoperable mission critical communications and Motorola Solutions is proud to be the state’s technology provider for the successful Maryland FiRST 700 MHz radio system,” said Mike Leonard, Vice President of Sales, Motorola Solutions. “From the beginning, the state and Motorola Solutions project teams have demonstrated outstanding teamwork in designing, deploying and commissioning each phase of the system and ensuring that Maryland’s first responders are getting the most advanced public safety radio system. Motorola Solutions commends the state for its foresight and we look forward to continuing the build out of this statewide network enabling state, local and federal agencies to talk to each other in any emergency.”

The Maryland FiRST 700 MHz statewide radio system is the first system in Maryland that provides true communications interoperability for first responders and public safety agencies. There are 14,500 primary public safety users and almost 24,000 interoperability users who have the system readily available for use to include state, local and federal agencies such as the FBI, ATF, DEA, Federal Protective Services and the U.S Coast Guard.