BURY police will soon be on the right wavelength!

Greater Manchester Police are launching a new radio system to bring their communications into the 21st Century.

Officers based at GMP's Manchester Airport sub-division will be the first to "go live" with the Airwave service and its new TETRA (Terrestrial Trunked Radio) technology.

And Bury officers will harness the new system next March as part of the force's rolling-out programme for the equipment.

In future, police radios in every area of GMP will receive clearer communications. The radios will incorporate an emergency button to improve staff safety as well as having more flexibility and be an expandable system to meet changing requirements. The new service will also allow:

Various channels so that separate "talk groups" can be set up for specific operations

Features of a standard mobile telephone to enable officers to talk direct to members of the public

One-to-one calls between the radio handsets without going through a communications centre.

Additionally, the new system puts criminals on notice that eavesdropping into police radio communications will be a thing of the past as an encryption facility is incorporated into the equipment.

Airwave is part of a national police radio scheme which will enable improved communications between other emergency services and police forces to aid security and operational requirements nationwide.

The radios are the first step towards the "mobile office" which will eventually allow officers to use them as telephones, pagers and data terminals as well as incorporating vehicle and person location to make more effective use of police resources.

Superintendent Duncan Poulton, GMP's Airwave project director who is co-ordinating the system forcewide, said: "This new system will be state-of-the-art.

"It has the potential to increase our effectiveness dramatically and enable us to achieve real business benefits.

"This improvement will be like comparing a black and white television from 40 years ago with a modern digital one as far as sound quality, functionality and performance are concerned."