A committee set up to review emergency procedures in the
wake of the 7 July bombings has raised concerns over the unreliable
coverage of the police forces' £2.9bnAirwave digital radio communications
system.
Plans to link to the system to ambulance, fire brigade and the
London Underground are also running late, the London Assembly's
7 July Review Committee has concluded.
It published its
second report last week, and will report again in November.
Richard Barnes, chair of the committee, said the original
contract to provide UK police forces with digital radio
communications was flawed from the outset and produced a service
unfit for police and emergency use in a metropolitan
environment.
"In particular, we will be following up our concerns relating to
the rollout of digital radio communications in the Metropolitan
Police Service, London Fire Brigade and London Ambulance
Service.
"Whilst the authorities are clearly making considerable efforts
to address problems as they arise, some of the problems that have
arisen, especially within the
Metropolitan Police Service, do give us cause for concern," the
committee said.
Barnes told Computer Weekly that
Airwave met the
original specification of reliable communications in open air at
ground level. But,
as reported in Computer Weekly in March, it was unreliable in
buildings, in moving vehicles and underground.
These shortcomings meant it does not meet the needs of a
metropolitan police force such as London's, he said. "Londoners and
the police deserve better, especially when we are asking them to
put their lives on the line," he said.
Barnes said the committee has asked the Metropolitan Police and
others specifically for solutions to these issues.
The original
Airwave contract, which uses Motorola's Terrestrial Trunked
Radio (Tetra) technology, was granted to BT. BT later passed it to
its O2 subsidiary before O2 was bought by Spain's national network
operator Telefonica. In April 2007, Guardian Digital
Communications, which is owned by two subsidiaries of Australia's
Macquarie Bank, bought the Airwave network for £2bn.
Airwave holds a £115m contract to allow police communications to
piggy-back on London Underground's Connect communications system.
Barnes said this will be completed in August 2008. Even then,
"there are apparently some areas underground where Airwave radios
will not work", the committee found.
However, Barnes said he worried that Airwave would not provide
reliable in-building and in-transit communications by 2012, when
London is due to hold the Olympic Games.
Barnes added the first calls for the communications system had
gone out in 1988. "I think they were filed in the 'too hard to do
now' tray," he said.
However, the committee found that in December 2003 the
Metropolitan Police Authority had received a report stating that
Airwave had been conditionally accepted as ready for service in
October 2003.
"The Authority noted that full implementation would take place
by March 2006. By December 2004 this date had slipped to December
2006. The target date now is September 2007," it said.
The National Police Improvement Agency (NPIA) has taken over the
running of the Airwave contract from the Police Information
Technology Organisation (PITO).