Fort Lauderdale's $23.1M Motorola P25 Radio Refresh (2026)

Fort Lauderdale approved a $23.1 million Motorola P25 radio refresh on Aug. 18, 2026, and the contract does not say whether police dispatch stays in the clear. The City Commission passed agenda item M-4 (file 26-0710), an agreement for RFP No. 549-3, "P25 Radio Communication System Refresh-Replacement-Rebid," with Motorola Solutions for $23,109,800 across Commission Districts 1 through 4. That is the largest single radio spend in Broward County this year, and it lands in the middle of a statewide encryption squeeze. Here is what the record shows, what it does not show, and what southeast Florida scanner owners should watch for between now and 2028.

What the Commission Actually Approved

The motion was introduced July 7, 2026, sponsored through the city's Procurement Services committee, and requested by the Information Technology Services department. The commission passed it on Aug. 18, 2026, per the official contract record and the meeting agenda item. Three things are confirmed in the public record:

• Vendor: Motorola Solutions, under a rebid (RFP 549-3) after an earlier attempt failed.
• Scope: replacement and refresh of the city's P25 radio communication system, plus additional tower sites.
• Timeline: a stated 20 to 21 month deployment window, which puts full cutover in 2028.

The rebid history matters. A June 2026 version of this award failed on a 2-2 vote, and the city had already made radio infrastructure purchases on Oct. 23, 2025. This is a program, not a one-off purchase order.

SmartConnect, New Towers, and What Changes on the Air

Meeting coverage describes a package that includes additional towers and a Motorola "SmartConnect" feature that bridges P25, LTE and Wi-Fi (Citizen Portal, Aug. 18, 2026). For listeners, tower additions are usually good news: more sites mean better coverage and, in a simulcast system, more chances of the multipath distortion that makes a non-simulcast-capable scanner stutter.

SmartConnect is a rougher edge. A system that hands transmissions between P25 radio, cellular LTE and Wi-Fi is designed for responders, not for scanner hobbyists. If the city ever moves dispatch traffic onto that layer, a conventional scanner tuned to the P25 control channel hears nothing on those talk paths.

What the Record Does Not Say: Encryption

Neither the agenda title nor the available coverage states whether the refreshed system will encrypt police talkgroups, or whether public and media scanner access changes. No local outlet has reported on the encryption question, and we found no statement from Fort Lauderdale Police or the city about scanner access.

Treat encryption status as unknown, not imminent. But understand the risk window: migrations are when agencies quietly flip encryption on. New talkgroups, new channel plans and new tower sites give a department a natural moment to reclassify dispatch as encrypted without ever announcing a policy change. That window here runs through roughly 2028.

For background on how the pattern plays out elsewhere, see our explainer on what you can still hear when police encrypt, and the October 26, 2026 encryption deadline. Another recent nine-figure Motorola program, Louisiana's $192.6M LWIN upgrade, raised the same unanswered question.

What Fort Lauderdale Listeners Hear Today

Fort Lauderdale Police already operates on a regional 800 MHz P25 Phase II system shared with Coral Springs and Plantation. Dispatch is listed as "FLPD 1A MAIN" on RadioReference (system ID 8214). That means today's audio comes off a shared regional system, not a city-only repeater, and a refresh on one member agency's sites can ripple across the others.

If you listen in Broward County now, the practical advice is to log what you hear today: talkgroup numbers, channel names, the times dispatch runs hot. That baseline is how you will notice a change during the rollout, because agencies rarely publish a scanner-access notice. One caveat on hardware: P25 Phase II systems require a scanner built for P25, which means the analog Baofengs are not the tool for this system. See our breakdown of the simulcast-proof P25 receivers now shipping.

Why Commissioners Raised Building Coverage

Commissioners pressed Motorola and city staff on in-building coverage and asked whether the new deal would ease costs that condo associations have carried for building amplification systems (BDAs) under the Florida Fire Prevention Code. That question is about whether radio signals reach inside concrete high-rises, and it is the reason the package includes more towers. It is also the tell that this is an infrastructure build measured in years, not a handset swap.

Building penetration is exactly the problem a scanner listener notices first: a system that favors in-building coverage often increases site density, and site density is what makes simulcast reception hard on older scanners.

What to Watch Before the Cutover

1. Implementation notices and tower permit filings. New site construction is public record. Applications and site plan approvals usually appear months before a site goes live.
2. RadioReference talkgroup changes. Contributors log new talkgroup tables as systems are reprogrammed. A new encrypted talkgroup appearing next to the old clear one is the earliest public signal.
3. Commission workshop agendas. If encryption becomes policy, it surfaces in a workshop or a policy item, not in the contract itself.
4. Regional partner moves. Coral Springs and Plantation share the system. If one of them goes encrypted, the shared-system math changes for everyone.

Note the Florida context: the state is also the most restrictive in the country for a scanner mounted in a vehicle. Our guide to the Florida in-car scanner law and the ham license exemption covers what F.S. 843.16 allows.

FAQ

Will Fort Lauderdale police dispatch be encrypted under the new contract?

The public record does not say. The agenda item and the available coverage describe a P25 system refresh, additional towers and Motorola SmartConnect, with no statement on encryption or on whether scanner access changes. No local outlet has reported on the encryption question, and neither Fort Lauderdale Police nor the city has issued a statement on it. Treat the status as unknown.

How much is Fort Lauderdale paying Motorola?

$23,109,800, under RFP No. 549-3, "P25 Radio Communication System Refresh-Replacement-Rebid," for Commission Districts 1 through 4. The commission approved the agreement as agenda item M-4 (file 26-0710) on Aug. 18, 2026.

When does the new radio system go live?

The stated deployment timeline is 20 to 21 months, which places full implementation in 2028. Tower construction and reprogramming happen across that window, so partial changes will appear before the finished system does.

What radio system does Fort Lauderdale PD use right now?

Fort Lauderdale Police operates on a regional 800 MHz P25 Phase II system shared with Coral Springs and Plantation. Dispatch is listed as "FLPD 1A MAIN" on RadioReference (system ID 8214). Because the system is regional, a refresh on one member's sites can affect the others.

What is Motorola SmartConnect and why does it matter to scanners?

Coverage of the Aug. 18, 2026 meeting describes SmartConnect as a Motorola feature bridging P25 radio, LTE and Wi-Fi. It is built for responders who need coverage outside radio range. If dispatch traffic ever rides that layer, a conventional scanner monitoring the P25 control channel will not hear it.

Why did commissioners ask about building coverage?

Commissioners pressed Motorola and city staff on in-building coverage and whether the agreement would ease costs that condo associations have carried for building amplification systems (BDAs) under the Florida Fire Prevention Code. That pressure helps explain the additional tower sites in the package.

Bottom line: Fort Lauderdale committed $23.1 million to a Motorola P25 refresh on Aug. 18, 2026, with a 20 to 21 month build and no published word on encryption. That silence is not a promise of open dispatch. Southeast Florida listeners should keep monitoring the channel, log talkgroups as they change, and watch implementation notices and tower filings between now and 2028, because a rebuild this size is exactly when a clear channel becomes an encrypted one.