Police group slams Motorola Solutions on FirstNet

Telecommunications giant Motorola Solutions drew the ire of a national police group after one of the company’s consultants urged Virginia cops to contact state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli with criticisms about a $7 billion project to create a new post-Sept. 11 wireless network for first responders.

The consultant met in September with Virginia representatives of the Fraternal Order of Police, documents and sources indicate. In a follow-up email after the meeting, the consultant urged the trade union’s members to relay concerns about the network to Cuccinelli, the state’s Republican candidate for governor, as well as Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), who heads a subcommittee that determines its budget. Motorola Solutions has labored extensively this year to highlight flaws with the network, known as FirstNet, which could cut into one of the company’s key sources of revenue. But a company spokesman said it never sent the consultant and that he isn’t a lobbyist. And the consultant in question, Col. Kenneth Morckel, who works with the Ohio-based First Response Enterprises, said he didn’t travel to Virginia on behalf of Motorola Solutions. “Most of the conversation,” he said, “revolved around my involvement” with the International Association of Chiefs of Police.