Governor Blagojevich announces Motorola to donate $294,000 worth of radios for state's college campus security effort

SPRINGFIELD - Governor Rod R. Blagojevich today announced Schaumburg-based Motorola, Inc. is joining the state effort to strengthen emergency communication on Illinois college campuses. Motorola will help provide STARCOM21 radios valued at $294,000 to college campuses as part of the Governor's recently-announced initiative to strengthen safety for students, faculty, staff and visitors at Illinois institutions of higher education.

On April 29, Gov. Blagojevich announced three college campus security initiatives, including $330,000 in grants from the Illinois Terrorism Task Force (ITTF) that is being used to purchase 171 STARCOM21 radios. Motorola, developer of the network, has agreed to contribute an additional 132 radios, bringing the total number of radios to be distributed to college campuses to more than 300. The radios will provide colleges with the capability to access the interoperable communications network used by other responders during emergencies.

"I want to thank Motorola for joining us in this effort. We have a responsibility to make sure students are safe on college campuses and their donation will provide campus security forces with the most up-to-date equipment needed to communicate with first responders in an emergency," Gov. Blagojevich said.

STARCOM21 is a statewide communications system deployed in a public-private partnership between the State of Illinois and Motorola. This network allows emergency management, law enforcement, fire and public health agencies to talk to each other from nearly anywhere within the state. STARCOM21 is one of several statewide interoperable networks developed by Motorola for first responders in the United States.

The ITTF made STARCOM21 radios available to every public safety agency throughout the state, including law enforcement, fire, emergency management and public health departments. A total of $10.7 million has been dedicated to the procurement of STARCOM21 radios for state and local public safety agencies in Illinois.

"Motorola is very pleased to be participating in the Governor's campus safety initiative by providing mission-critical portable radios, including donating 132 of the radios to support the state's efforts," said Jack Molloy, vice president, communications and electronics, Motorola Enterprise Mobility Solutions. "Motorola is looking forward to working with the State of Illinois in this effort to help increase safety on more than 180 college campuses throughout Illinois."

Motorola's donation is valued at approximately $294,000 based on STARCOM21 contract pricing. The model being ordered for the colleges, the Motorola XTS1500 portable radio, is one of Motorola's mission-critical public safety handheld radios that is used for public safety and other public service and public works uses.

The Illinois Campus Law Enforcement Administrators will allocate the radios, which are expected to be made available to campus security forces prior to the beginning of the fall semester. A training session will be held for those receiving the radios so that they'll be able to use them once they return to their campuses.

In addition to the STARCOM radios, the Governor's other college security initiatives include:

• Creation of an Illinois Campus Security Task Force with members representing community colleges, public and private colleges and universities, proprietary institutions, the ITTF, the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA), the Illinois State Police (ISP), the Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System (ILEAS), and the Illinois Campus Law Enforcement Administrators. The Governor directed the task force to identify training needs and implement programs that will help campus security officials prepare for, respond to and recover from security incidents on their campuses.

• Appointing the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE), the Illinois Community College Board (ICCB) and the Illinois Campus Law Enforcement Administrators to the ITTF. The participation of these groups in the ITTF will also allow other public safety bodies to gain additional insight into the security issues and incidence response requirements unique to college campuses. The ITTF currently has more than 70 member organizations representing state and local agencies, public safety organizations, municipalities with populations over 100,000 and the business community.