Hollywood, MD – The following missive was submitted as a Letter to the Editor by Max Green of Harris Corporation
Having served the people of St. Mary’s County for nearly 20 years, Harris Corporation is saddened by the tragedy on October 24, 2017, and has assisted the county with a comprehensive technical review of the events of that morning. Unfortunately, one commissioner remains unconvinced by our findings, despite our commitment to providing the county with verified facts.
Because the people of St. Mary’s County deserve objectivity and substantiated facts, Harris used an independent third-party source to verify—with certainty—that VHF Fire Paging Tones were transmitted and received in their entirety as noted on a public scanner. Harris went further to publicly and candidly respond to questions from the Commission, including noting that we cannot speak to the performance of the equipment in the fire stations that falls outside of our contract with St. Mary’s County. Harris can, however, assure the people served by the community’s volunteer first responders that Fire Paging Tones were both sent by the Harris radio system and received by an independent public scanner.
Those are the facts—as verified by a third-party—and we stand by our system and our work. Harris welcomes an independent review of the emergency radio system and contract procurement process, and will continue to support the county in this important effort.
Read previous stories regarding the 9-1-1 system failure here.
