Digital radio secures the airways.

The cutover to secure digital radio communications for the Wellington District in June is making a real difference and helping to catch criminals.

In the second week of the new radio network going live in Lower Hutt seven gang associates were caught red-handed as they made off from a house burglary in three cars, one of them stolen. They had a scanner, but it must have been tuned into another area, as it would no longer work in the Hutt Valley.

Consequently they had no warning police were on their way to apprehend them.

Constable Craig Cloutman, Lower Hutt, uses the new digital radio system. Photo: Hutt News

In another instance the occupants of a car which was pulled up in Tawa, Wellington, were all from the Hutt Valley and had extensive criminal histories of burglary and receiving stolen goods. Intel information showed they had headed over to Tawa because the Hutt area had switched to the secure radio network. Little did they know that within two weeks, Wellington would also have the new network up and running.

Boy racers are also reacting to the introduction of secure radio communications and moving to areas where their scanners will still work – at least for now. In the first weekend that the new radio system was live in the Hutt Valley, dozens of boy racers realised this and headed into Wellington city.

On another note, the Central Communications Centre received a call from a man asking for assistance with fixing his scanner, which wasn’t working any more.

Lower Hutt Area Commander Inspector Richard Chambers says the results coming through are very reassuring and show the value of blocking eavesdroppers from listening into police communications.

“We are able to get to jobs knowing with confidence that the offenders will not be alerted to our whereabouts.”

He says this includes apprehending drunk drivers who in the past could use scanners to keep an ear out for police movements.

Richard says the change required in radio techniques was minimal and the new technology was quickly adopted by staff who appreciate the absolute security the new system provides.

With the Wellington District rollout successfully completed, the focus now is on migrating the Canterbury District and the Auckland region (Waitematā, Auckland City, Counties Manukau) over to the new secure network by the end of 2010, in time for the Rugby World Cup in 2011.

Implementing the new digital radio network to all other police districts nationwide is a huge programme of work and will cost about a further $150 million based on current estimates.

It involves not only replacing the radio gear which officers use, but also updating the backbone equipment which runs the police radio network nationwide.

Police’s ICT group has been working on the network design and implementation since 2005, together with Tait Electronics, the New Zealand company awarded the contract for the work.