Hyderabad: Post September 11, 2001, when passenger airlines crashed into the World Trade Centre in the United States, communications failure was identified as a critical element that undermined the response to the deadly attacks. The first responders — the police officials — struggled to communicate with each other as their radios operated on different frequencies, and so did the fire fighters.
Closer home, when terrorists carried out multiple attacks in Mumbai on November 26, 2008, police officials were once again faced with a situation where they were unable to communicate with each other, which hampered their response.
Seamless communication is a must for first responders and the Telangana police has finally woken up to the reality. The state police is revamping its communication system by replacing the wireless sets with APCO 25 — a digital trunked sophisticated radio system developed by the US-based Association of Public Safety Communications Officials International (APCO). The police across United States communicates over APCO 25. The TS police communication system has been in use for the last 21 years.
Sources in the Telangana police told Deccan Chronicle that though the proposal to replace the wireless communications system has been in place for the last few years, it did not materialise due to various reasons. Last month, the technical evaluation of the systems was carried out and the deal is likely to be finalised in December. It is likely that by January the new system will be in place and put to use.
To begin with, the new system will be made available to the Hyderabad police. In different phases, it will be available for Cyberabad and Rachakonda Police commissionerates and subsequently deployed in the districts. The requirement for the state is being projected at 20,000 wireless sets and initially 2,000 will be procured. The new system will cost the government around Rs 200 crore. For Hyderabad alone, the estimate is about Rs 70 crore. Besides walkie talkie sets, repeaters and towers will have to be installed at various places.
Explaining the features of the new system, sources said that the APCO 25 allows seamless communication over multiple channels. “A key feature is that the operator can listen to two frequencies instead of the existing system of switching between single frequencies at a time. For instance, the user can listen to the updates from the West Zone of Hyderabad and another major event in Cyberabad.
Both frequency channels will be divided by time slots depending on what information comes in first,” a source said, adding that the new system is interoperable.
Also, the system allows a separate channel for communication between senior police officers. The protocols also include security options in which voice and data traffic can be cryptographically protected from eavesdropping. In the existing system, the user had to manually switch channels on the VHF sets. Moreover, there was lack of compatibility with other radio communication tools and the transmission of information was not seamless. “The new system is compatible and can be integrated with systems being used by all other agencies like the GHMC, fire, revenue department which will ensure that officers of multiple departments can talk to each other,” the source said. The walkie talkie sets will be purchased from either Motorala or Kenwood.
