Page 9 - i Cover_REACH5.indd

ESSAG – and had to be approved by senior users of the Emergency Services, Ofcom, and the Home Of ce. Direct Mode Operation (DMO) is also a feature of the EA’s Airwave radios. This allows the radios themselves to act as transmitters to provide a ‘virtual network’ if the radios are out of network range in a particularly isolated area. The connections remain encrypted, so operational security is not compromised. Tracey Hartley, now an Environmental Crime Team Leader for the EA, was responsible for the introduction of the Airwave Service to the EA. “Reliable communications are critical for the safety of our of cers. Particularly on remote sites, DMO capability is invaluable. If our of cers are working with the Police on a surveillance operation, the covert capabilities, joint talk groups and of course the encryption on the Airwave Service means we can be more effective and ef cient, and our of cers can be more secure,” said Tracey. “As an example, one of our Northern teams worked closely with the Police on an operation to identify suspected poachers. Police from several forces were involved, and the direct group communication with the EA of cers enabled by speci c talk groups was instrumental in helping the Police make several arrests.” Technical Advisor Deborah Bankes has taken over from Tracey as national custodian of the EA’s Airwave contract. Deborah is responsible for all the Airwave equipment and its usage, and also for managing the user training. Comprehensive and regular training is essential to ensure users get the most from their Airwave radios, and that they continue to work within the Home Of ce Code of Practice. As a non-blue light Airwave customer, the EA is a member of the Multi Agency Airwave User Group – or MAAUG. Working with Airwave’s MAAUG Manager Saqib Choudhary, a training plan was put together for the EA based on ensuring each regional

EA team was fully involved. Each team has a local Airwave custodian and a back-up custodian. Following sessions organised by Tracey and Saqib, these team members have all been trained in the most effective use of the Airwave Service, and can pass that knowledge on to other members of their team and new users as required.

“Moving forward, we would like to have regular refresher courses for the regional custodians so we are working on a ‘train the trainer’ basis,” said Deborah.

“All the EA users have to undergo training, and we worked with Saqib and his team to ensure everyone was fully aware of the capabilities of the Airwave Service. Our users are now con dent in communicating with partner organisations when on incident operations, and the multi-user and multi-agency talk groups can be quickly con gured, making communications simpler and responses faster.”