The proposal, separate from the handheld radio upgrade, would cover about 19% of mobile radios in police cars, fire trucks and ambulances, with no local funding match required

By Michael Johnson
cleveland.com

CLEVELAND — Cleveland is moving toward a new public-safety radio purchase more than two years after City Council approved $13 million to replace 1,840 radios carried by police officers, firefighters, paramedics and Animal Care and Control workers.

They aren’t the same radios.

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The 2024 project covered portable radios — handheld units carried by first responders. The latest proposal would allow Cleveland to apply for and accept up to $1.031 million in federal funding to begin replacing a separate fleet of mobile radios installed in police cars, fire trucks and ambulances.

The U.S. Department of Justice’s fiscal year 2026 project list identifies Cleveland as invited to apply for $1.031 million for “Cleveland Public Safety Radios.” U.S. Rep. Shontel Brown requested the project.

Cleveland has 778 mobile radios, according to Public Safety Director Dornat “Wayne” Drummond and city grant officials who spoke during a Sept. 23 City Council Safety Committee meeting. The proposed funding would replace 151, or about 19% of that fleet. The grant would not require a local match, according to cleveland.com’s original article.

That would leave 627 mobile radios outside the proposed purchase.

Drummond told council members that replacing all 778 mobile radios would require a “substantial amount” of additional funding, although he did not provide an estimate during the meeting.

Cleveland’s earlier project involved a much larger purchase of handheld radios.

A city presentation on the 2024 project called for replacing 1,840 portable radios: 1,360 for police, including 10 for the bomb squad; 329 for fire; 125 for emergency medical services; and 26 for Animal Care and Control.

City officials said those radios had been deployed in 2012 and exceeded their expected life cycle. They had become less reliable with wear and tear, were no longer supported by the manufacturer and could no longer be repaired or upgraded, according to the presentation. Specialized replacement batteries used by firefighters and the bomb squad also were no longer available.

City Council approved Ordinance 640-2024 on July 10, 2024. The measure authorized contracts needed for the city’s public-safety technology upgrades, including the radio replacement. The ordinance took effect July 16.

The current proposal is still moving through council.

Ordinance 907-2026 would authorize the Public Safety director to apply for and accept the federal money through the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Assistance for the Cleveland Public Safety Radio Program.

The Safety Committee approved the measure Wednesday with an amendment requiring the Public Safety director to notify the council clerk when purchases are made through a cooperative purchasing process and provide details about the process.

The measure next goes to the Finance, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee.

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