The days of people listening to the police scanner are numbered, with the Tasmanian Government officially launching their new ‘secure’ Government Radio Network today.
Telstra were contracted to commission the $763 million dollar initiative, which the State Government say is one of Tasmania’s largest infrastructure projects ever.
TasGRN has ‘been purpose-built’ and will be used all Government agencies – including Tasmania Police, Ambulance Tasmania, Tasmania Fire Service, Tasmania SES, Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Sustainable Timber Tasmania, TasNetworks and Hydro Tasmania.
Police & Emergency Services Minister Felix Ellis says the new network is “secure” and will allow Tasmania’s key organisations “to better serve the community with fully encrypted voice communications, limiting exposure to criminals covertly accessing the network”.
The TasGRN system will also increase the safety of first responders, as each individual radio has a duress button and can be located through GPS tracking – according to Ellis.
Up until now, different emergency response agencies couldn’t easily talk together in the field, which Minister Ellis says limited coordination and “posed a risk to community safety”.
More than 50 jobs were created to build the TasGRN network – which includes 135 in-field radio sites, more than 6,500 handheld and in vehicle radios and 23 new radio towers.
TasGRN is expected to be fully operational by November 2023.
