City of Philadelphia - File #: 080694

• File #: 080694
• Version: 0
• Type: Resolution
• Status: ADOPTED
• File created: 9/18/2008
• In control: Committees on Public Safety and Technology & Information Services
• Title: Authorizing a Joint Hearing for both City Council's Committee on Public Safety and City Council's Committee on Technology and Information Systems to hold public hearings to: investigate and determine the cause of the failure of the City of Philadelphia's 62 million dollar 800 Megahertz Digital Radio System (MDRS) which occurred at 9:30 PM on Tuesday July, 22, 2008; to receive communication and instruction from the City Solicitor of the City of Philadelphia on the status of the City's legal remedies against Motorola Corporation as a result of this latest failure; to hear the Managing Director's conclusions as to the cause of these failures and her recommendations, and timeline, to correct these failures, and to identify whether or not additional funds need to be budgeted to finally solve this serious breech of public safety, and in furtherance of such investigation authorizing the issuance of subpoenas to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of documents to the full ext...
• Sponsors: Councilmember Rizzo, Councilmember Miller, Councilmember Sanchez, Councilmember Green, Councilmember Greenlee, Councilmember Jones, Councilmember Goode, Councilmember Tasco, Councilmember Blackwell, Council President Verna, Councilmember Kelly, Councilmember Clarke, Councilmember O'Neill, Councilmember Krajewski, Councilmember Reynolds Brown

Date	Ver.	Action By	Action	Result	Tally
12/10/2008	0	Joint Committees on Public Safety and Technology & Information Services	HEARING NOTICES SENT
12/10/2008	0	Joint Committees on Public Safety and Technology & Information Services	HEARING HELD
12/10/2008	0	Joint Committees on Public Safety and Technology & Information Services	RECESSED
9/18/2008	0	CITY COUNCIL	ADOPTED & REFERRED	Pass	12:5
9/18/2008	0	CITY COUNCIL	READ
9/18/2008	0	CITY COUNCIL	Introduced	Pass

Title
Authorizing a Joint Hearing for both City Council's Committee on Public Safety and City Council's Committee on Technology and Information Systems to hold public hearings to: investigate and determine the cause of the failure of the City of Philadelphia's 62 million dollar 800 Megahertz Digital Radio System (MDRS) which occurred at 9:30 PM on Tuesday July, 22, 2008; to receive communication and instruction from the City Solicitor of the City of Philadelphia on the status of the City's legal remedies against Motorola Corporation as a result of this latest failure; to hear the Managing Director's conclusions as to the cause of these failures and her recommendations, and timeline, to correct these failures, and to identify whether or not additional funds need to be budgeted to finally solve this serious breech of public safety, and in furtherance of such investigation authorizing the issuance of subpoenas to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of documents to the full extent authorized under Section 2-401 of the Home Rule Charter;
Body
WHEREAS, On July 22, 2008, Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey while on patrol initiated an "assist officer" call over the Police Radio System; and

WHEREAS, Multitudes of police officers responded to this call and tried to get on the air to communicate their response; and

WHEREAS, The appropriate response of officers to the "assist officer" call was met with the failure of the City's MDRS for some 45 to 50 minutes; and

WHEREAS, Police Commissioner Ramsey has noted that "...the thing ought to work, and it's unacceptable for it not to work - 40 minutes, 45 minutes, 2 minutes, it's just way too long. When you are out there on the street, that's your lifeline..."; and

WHEREAS, Deputy Mayor Everett Gillison has committed the City "to make sure that this does not happen again"; and

WHEREAS, In July and September of 2004 City Council held hearings to investigate: 1) a September 30, 2004 memo concerni...