UK police radio network is open to attack

A senior police worker has admitted that Airwave, the new £2.5bn UK police radio network, cannot withstand a terrorist attack, but said the system still offers the best compromise for police communication.

Airwave is based on Terrestrial Trunked Radio (Tetra) technology that, in common with most radio systems, can be jammed. However, unlike other radio systems, Tetra has the ability to hop channels. This makes it both difficult and expensive to block out all frequencies, which is the reason military implementations use multiple channels to secure transmissions.

However, the BT Airwave system plans on a single channel implementation in most areas, except in densely populated zones where multiple channels are required to get the specified coverage.

Rod Attewell, radio communications manager at Thames Valley Police, admitted that this means Airwave could be jammed, but said this does not represent a threat to security because special squads rely on a secret communication system.

Attewell could not reveal either the name or technology of this secret system, but said it is digitised and already in place. "Airwave would not stand up to a terrorist organisation," he said. "We intend to use it for everyday police communication."

Attewell agreed that there are cheaper alternatives, but said Tetra is the only technology that could meet with the police requirements while combining voice and data in one network.

"Other systems could carry data at higher speed than Tetra, but for police communication, voice is more important than data," he said. "Tetra offers additional voice functionality, such as direct talk and group talk, at a reasonable security."

Attewell said replacing the current police radios is urgent because any high street scanner can overhear them. However, he added: "Tetra has been tried and tested for emergency communications in many countries in Europe."

First published in Network News