Sepura delivers its 100,000th UK TETRA radio to West Midlands Police

West Midlands Police (WMP) has just taken delivery of Sepura’s 100,000th hand-held TETRA radio for use on the UK Airwave network. This milestone shipment marks the completion of a programme by WMP to replace its analogue personal radios with Sepura handportables.

The second largest police force in the UK, WMP employs almost 8,500 officers and 3,000 support staff. WMP’s 21 Operational Command Units, responsible for local demand, and its Force Communications Centre, responsible for despatching force-wide resources, now use TETRA technology to co-ordinate and respond to incidents.

Covering an area of 890 square kilometres and a population of around 2.6 million, the police force has three major cities in its territory-Birmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton-as well as some of Europe’s busiest roads, such as the famous “Spaghetti Junction”. In a typical day, WMP deals with 3,200 incidents including 2,000 emergency calls.

The WMP originally selected the Sepura radios after an extensive evaluation process to find a hand-held that was best-suited to the new UK Airwave emergency radio system. Tests included a full user trial, as well as simulation exercises to identify how many talk groups and accessories could be accommodated.

The Global Positioning System (GPS) capabilities of the Sepura hand-held have proven invaluable in enabling central control to match resources to immediate demand, while knowledge of an officer’s exact location has been critical in helping prevent injury or loss of life at incidents. Officer safety is further enhanced by a unique feature of the sGPSTM device – the fact that it does not need to be in direct line of sight with satellites. This is especially important when policing heavily built-up city centres.

“When an officer presses the emergency button, their exact location is routed through to our OASIS Command and Control system,” says Max Corney, Communications Manager for WMP. “The officer is identified on the mapping screens and we are able to respond to their request very quickly and efficiently”.

David Taylor, UK Sales Director added: “This memorable milestone is a proof of the exponential growth of our business and a testament to the hard work of all those who have contributed to Sepura’s success. We are delighted that West Midlands Police are the recipients of this milestone delivery”.

For more information contact:
Rosanna Norman at Sepura Limited
+44 (0) 1223 877 283
rosanna.norman@sepura.com