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The New Zealand Government has scrapped plans to spend at least $150 million extending the police secure digital radio network beyond the three main centres.
Police deputy commissioner Viv Rickard said police would continue to rely on their unencrypted analogue radio network, which can be listened to by criminals, outside Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
Police and the Treasury had drawn up a business case for a ''whole-of-government'' radio network operated by a public-private partnership. It would have provided secure nationwide communications for Police while opening up its network to other government users.
The Government has now decided against funding the extension. But it does still plan to make Police's existing digital network in the three main centres available to other agencies, first to the Fire Service in 2014-2015 and then to ambulance services.
Rickard said cost was always a factor in any decision and the price of extending Police' digital network nationwide would have been ''significant''.
The key for Police was the new plan would give them more time to wait for developments in technology without making a major investment decision, he said.
Police Minister Anne Tolley announced last month that Vodafone would supply Police with 6000 smartphones and 3900 iPads. ''We know going forward we will need something like [digital] radio but technologies are converging,'' Rickard said.
Police had adapted the way they worked, particularly during covert operations, to reduce the risk of criminals spying on the analogue radio network, he said. One-to-one conversations could be held on mobiles. In emergencies where it was ''a case of getting people to scene'' and there was a need to broadcast messages to lots of officers at the same time, Police tended to worry less about eavesdropping.
The announcement may be positive for NZX-listed TeamTalk and for Kordia which provide radio communications to public sector agencies and could have suffered commercially from a nationwide whole-of-government network.
But it appeared negative for Christchurch-based Tait Communications, which built Police' existing digital network and appeared well-placed to pick up any contract to extend it.
Tait managing director Frank Owen said, however, that the announced approach was ''very pragmatic and would deliver good operational outcomes''. ''We know from our clients all over the world there's a critical need for resilient, safe and secure digital radio mobile communication networks that police, fire and ambulance services can use together easily and effectively. We also know there is a rapidly growing need to supply emerging broadband data services to key public safety units to help them do their jobs more efficiently.'
Fairfax NZ News Mar 2013
