§ Mr. EdwardsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects the Airwave service to be fully operational within Gwent police force. [154349]
§ Ms BlearsGwent is in the process of migrating to full operational use on a division-by-division basis. It is expected that the entire force will be using Airwave by mid-June 2004.
§ Mr. EdwardsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Airwave service will be available on a national basis. [154350]
§ Ms BlearsThe Airwave system will be available to all forces in England, Wales and Scotland by June 2005. It is already available to 31 forces in England and Wales.
§ Mr. EdwardsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what he expects the operational benefits to the police of the investment in the Airwave services will be; and if he will make a statement. [154351]
1702WInformation for 2002 will be available in the spring.
Not all fines and fixed penalties will have been paid.
penalties and court fines ordered to be paid within the Sussex police force area for the offence of "speeding detected by camera" in 2001 is shown in the table. It is not possible from the data collected centrally to identify the County of West Sussex and the constituency of East Worthing and Shoreham within the geographical area of the Sussex police force.
Information for 2002 will be available in the spring.
Not all fines and fixed penalties will have been paid.
§ Ms BlearsAirwave is not simply a replacement for existing police radio systems. In addition to much improved coverage and clearer, more reliable signals there are additional features that will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the police service
Using Airwave, all police officers and police staff will be on the same system, with seamless communications nationally.
Airwave provides higher capacity than is presently available— allowing, for example, the many users attending a major incident to talk at the same time without overloading the system. Airwave also allows for flexible talk-groups, letting officers develop new ways of working together.
All Airwave transmissions are encrypted, allowing officers to pass information without criminals being able to eavesdrop.
Airwave handsets have an emergency button to summon help— improving the safety of both police officers and the public. Airwave also allows simultaneous transmission of voice and data, so that 1703W police officers will be able to use their radios to connect to facilities such as the Police National Computer and to file reports without the need to return to their station.