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Policing - new material (70)

01 November 2004

The Mast Crusaders, Terry Kirkby. Guardian Review 23.11.04., pp1-2. Article on the Terrestrial Truncated Radio (Tetra), the new police communications network that is replacing their VHF system and the health fears that surround the masts that they utilise. "The system gives police officers a mobile phone and two-way radio in the same handset and is being implemented around the country by O2 Airwave, previously part of BT, which has a £2.9 bn, 15-year contract with the Home Office to supply all 51 forces in England, Wales and Scotland, through a network of around 3,500 masts. Around 40 forces have been supplied so far, but the system will not be operational until May 2006."

Crisis Control, Eve Pertile. Police Review 29.10.04., pp22-23. This article discusses the initial phase of the first Police National Mobilisation Plan which "aims to implement rapid mobilisation and common standards of operational practice in incident management" in public order policing.

Ring Leaders, Gary Mason. Police Review,1.10.04. A report on how the police service is adapting to and utilising forensic telecoms as an investigative tool; particularly new 3G phone technology. Many forces already use specialist companies to help them retrieve and present evidence in their investigations, but have also found it to facilitate greater levels of "proactive detection". Mason provides the example of police in the Netherlands who have recently been granted extra powers to obtain information held on telecoms networks. It is estimated that 70 per cent of Britain’s population have given their details, including phone numbers, to credit companies providing greater scope for police investigations.