1.2 During the 1980s, the Association of Chief Police Officers in England and Wales asked the Home Office to investigate and develop a strategy for the provision of modern radio systems for the police. This request was a key factor contributing to the initiation of the Major Review of Radio Communications in the Police and Fire Services of England and Wales. Its recommendations were endorsed by the then Home Secretary in April 1993. The police and fire services in Scotland carried out a similar review, which produced broadly similar results.
1.3 The reviews reported that existing police radio systems did not meet requirements. In England and Wales, the limitations were considerable. Radio systems were inflexible and suffered interference from continental radio transmissions, functionality was limited and the systems were unable to provide adequate capacity and coverage. Figure 1 lists identified deficiencies.
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1 |
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Problems with existing police radios |
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Congestion |
Existing radio channels are often very congested, with police officers unable to gain access when required. As a result there is a considerable level of suppressed demand because police officers do not communicate on routine matters. More importantly, police officers sometimes lose the ability to call for rapid response when required. |
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Flexibility |
Allied to the problem of congestion, current radio systems are inflexible. Capacity cannot be re-assigned quickly to overcome congestion, or, when necessary, provide command and working-level channels. |
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Security |
The majority of police radio systems are unencrypted and messages can be intercepted with simple scanning receivers available cheaply from high street stores. This can result in police operations being called-off, as suspects, monitoring police radio traffic, become aware of police surveillance. |
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Interference |
Interference from commercial continental radio users causes severe problems to police radio systems in the south and east of England and some way inland (to the extent that the West Midlands Police Force told us that it too suffered from radio interference). |
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Operational |
With vehicle-mounted radios operating on a different radio frequency to handheld radios, police officers in vehicles are frequently unable to communicate with police officers on foot, without the use of a second radio. |
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Lack of support for regional and national roaming prevents police officers maintaining radio contact with their control rooms when outside their force areas. This is particularly relevant for organisations such as regional crime squads, which need to operate across force boundaries. |
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Management Information |
Lack of information on the status and location of police officers can inhibit the ability of commanders to make operational decisions on, for example, deployment of police officers. |
Source: Home Office