Reach
Issue 7 2014
|
19
We applied three principles while developing the
plan – it had to be operationally effective, technically
deliverable, and affordable value for money – it has
to be defendable in an audit, and deliver good
value to the taxpayer.
Chief Inspector Andrew Mosley, Police Scotland
T
he Glasgow 2014
Commonwealth Games
brings together thousands of
athletes, volunteers and spectators
for an unforgettable festival of
sport and culture. In the previous
edition of Reach, we reported on
the work being undertaken behind
the scenes to ensure that Airwave’s
Emergency Services Network
(ESN) was enhanced to deliver the
additional capacity required by
the multi-agency Games support
services, led by Police Scotland. In
this edition, Reach takes a look at
the final preparations.
Police Scotland’s planning for the
Games began in 2012. Working with
the Airwave team, the requirements
were explored, including the levels
of coverage and capacity needed
to support events over 11 days
across 14 venues. These include
the Athletes’ Village, built over 35
hectares to accommodate some
6,500 competitors and team officials.
With more than 5,000 additional
users expected on the ESN in the
Glasgow area during the Games,
the capacity plan identified the need
for two additional temporary sites
to cover the Scottish Exhibition and
Conference Centre (SECC) and the
Athletes’ Village, in addition to the
15 sites that already serve the city.
The SECC Precinct is the largest
venue precinct of the Games,
hosting the competitions for six
sports – gymnastics, boxing, judo,
netball, wrestling and weightlifting/
powerlifting. During Games time it also
hosted the International Broadcast
Centre and Main Press Centre. Extra
capacity was also needed for air-to-
ground serving sites.
The Network enhancement work
was carried out in close consultation
with Police Scotland, with an Airwave
Commonwealth Games steering
group meeting each month. The
Airwave team brought its experience
from the London 2012 Olympic and
Paralympic Games to Glasgow, and
supported Police Scotland during the
Glasgow Games with a dedicated
event control team. This included
field engineering resources, event
management personnel working from
Airwave’s Network Management
Centre (NMC), and End User
Engagement teams supporting the
three Games’ muster sites to assist
users and gain feedback on behalf of
Police Scotland.
Chief Inspector Andrew Mosley of
Police Scotland led the multi-agency
public safety support for the Games.
“We have done nothing like this
before,” he told Reach. “We looked
at all the Games venues against the
existing mast footprint and the number
of police and other agency resources
that will be in the area, to come up
with a plan of the resources required.
“We applied three principles while
developing the plan – it had to be
operationally effective, technically
deliverable, and affordable value for
money – it has to be defendable in
an audit, and deliver good value to
the taxpayer.
“The challenge was to tick all three
boxes, and it has taken a lot of hard
work, but we have a strong working
relationship with Airwave, and the
monthly meetings meant challenging
questions could be asked and any
issues quickly addressed.
“Thousands of additional users
from Scotland and across Great
Britain provided us with mutual aid,
and these were managed by the
multi-agency coordination centre
adjacent to our control room.
“The Games were managed on
dedicated talkgroups, and briefing
packages were sent to all the mutual
aid forces, including the ‘z cards’ of
quick start information produced by
Airwave, along with specific advice
on the use of point-to-point and
telephony during the Games. Our
usage on the ESN was monitored
using Insite*.”
*Insite is Airwave’s powerful Network
monitoring tool. It provides a live view
of the customer’s Airwave Service in
a map view, showing base sites and
status flags, delivering real-time traffic
reports and dashboards, and dynamic
radio coverage plots with historical,
live and future views.
Pictures courtesy of Graeme Ford
