Wednesday, October 7, 2026

Chu Presents Pasadena With $1.03 Million Check for Regional Public Safety Radio Upgrade

On Tuesday, October 6, 2026, Congressmember Judy Chu presented the City of Pasadena with a check for $ 1.03 million dollars in federal funding for the upgrade of critical radio site technologies. [City of Pasadena]

Federal money approved in January targets the city’s prime radio site and repeater sites.

Congresswoman Judy Chu presented the City of Pasadena on Tuesday with a $1.03 million check for federal funding to upgrade the city’s public safety radio-site technology.

The $1,031,000 comes through the Justice Department’s Community Oriented Policing Services Technology and Equipment Program.

Chu’s office said the funding will modernize radio and repeater-site technology to increase system capacity and reliability, improving communication among first responders and essential personnel and strengthening public safety across Pasadena and the surrounding region.

In a letter last year requesting the money, Chu wrote that increasing the capacity of “the regional communications cell owned and operated by Pasadena” would “effectively mitigate hazardous system loading and overloading during major incidents.”

The letter called that preparedness crucial, especially with the World Cup and Olympic Games coming to the region in 2026 and 2028.

Congress designated the money in a fiscal 2026 spending package covering the Justice Department and other agencies, which the House passed 397-28 on Jan. 8 and President Donald Trump signed into law Jan. 23.

The city’s radio system, whose infrastructure was installed in 2011, supports public safety and public services including the Police, Fire, Water and Power, Public Works and Transportation departments, according to an April city staff report.

The equipment the city maintains includes nearly 1,600 handheld, vehicle-mounted and desktop radios, equipment at three radio sites and 12 radio dispatch consoles at the Police Department’s 911 dispatch center and the city’s radio shop, that report said.

Pasadena is a founding member of the Interagency Communications Interoperability System, a joint powers authority established in 2003 that now supports 38 agencies across Los Angeles County, according to a June memo from the city’s Department of Information Technology.

Through the system, the memo said, Pasadena has access to 102 shared radio channels and 436 repeaters across the Southern California region; without it, the city would be limited to four public safety channels licensed by the Federal Communications Commission.

The memo said that interoperability has proven critical during major incidents such as the Eaton Fire, and that Verdugo Fire Communications, which provides the city’s fire dispatch services, also relies on the system.