Cops get hi-tech rides

By Siyabonga Africa, ITWeb junior journalist

Johannesburg, 13 Feb 2009

The Gauteng provincial government has donated 42 cars, worth more than R7 million, to the SA Police Service (SAPS).

The cars are all equipped with terrestrial trunked (Tetra) radios, which provide seamless connectivity to mobile phones and landlines.

Gauteng premier Paul Mashatile said the investment was made to enhance the response time to crime - currently, the average response time in Johannesburg is 30 to 40 minutes.

In his address to the media, at the 10111 centre in Midrand, Mashatile said the cars were fitted with hi-tech equipment by GFleet and Instrumentation for Traffic Law Enforcement. This would help the Gauteng aggravated robbery teams to respond to incidents detected by the 16 CCTV cameras located around Johannesburg, among other means, he explained.

“We have made significant investments in our ICT infrastructure to ensure our surveillance system is ubiquitous in the province.”

Embracing the future

Instrumentation technical manager Sean Rooney says the Tetra radios will allow the police to receive calls from cellphones, landlines and conventional radios. Instrumentation supplies emergency warning equipment and traffic management systems to law enforcement agencies around the African continent.

Rooney says Tetra technology is already in use in Europe and North America, and was developed as a result of the 9/11 attacks when the firemen trapped inside the fallen buildings could not be reached by shortwave radios.

“There are certain places where people cannot be reached, such as basements and rural areas out of range, and it is in these areas where Tetra radios will come in handy for the police,” says Rooney.

The radios work on several platforms, including wireless and IP-based networks, as well as landlines, says Rooney. He adds that, since the radios work on wireless networks, they will also allow police officers to send pictures of crime scenes via text messaging to other officers.

“GFleet and the SAPS have gone out of their way to embrace new technologies and these Tetra radios are a sign of that progress.”

National Tetra by 2015

Recently, a R900 million Tetra network deal was signed by three international companies, Bhisho representatives and the police in Mandela Bay. The agreement entails providing the Eastern Cape SAPS with improved communications technologies.

Eastern Cape SAPS spokesman senior superintendent Lindela Mashigo says Integcomm won the contract to build the digital command-and-control network for the police. The other two companies are EADS Defence and Security, and Saab Grintek Technologies.

Mashigo was quoted as saying the Tetra network being built will be completed in five years' time, with some of the infrastructure being ready for the 2010 Fifa World Cup. SAPS hopes all provinces will have Tetra-based command-and-control centres by 2015.