Police to use Bluetooth to access intelligence records

The lack of data-friendly handsets for the police's £2.9bn Tetra digital radio system means officers will need to use Bluetooth to connect portable devices such as PDAs and tablet PCs to their network.

O2 Airwave is running the PFI contract, which has been dogged by controversy over the safety of handsets and masts, as well as criticisms that the network will be obsolete by the time it is fully rolled out.

To date, 35 police forces have signed up Airwave and a nationwide rollout is due to be finished by the middle of next year. The fire and ambulance services are currently evaluating bids for their own digital radio network but the government has again delayed a decision on the choice of supplier.

Roger Marsden, mobile data programme director at Airwave, told silicon.com that data transmission was not a key feature of the project when it was first raised back in the late 1990s but he said moves are being made to offer new data services and improve access.

While existing Tetra handsets are fine for voice communications, the displays are too small for accessing and inputting data, and Marsden said Bluetooth will instead allow forces to use whichever non-proprietary portable device they want in conjunction with the basic Tetra handsets.

"Using Tetra portable radios officers can do some of the checks with PNC (police national computer) but the user interface is very small and not user-friendly. The market doesn't provide any Tetra-based PDA devices or modem cards," he said. "Bluetooth opens them up to the whole plethora of consumer devices – iPaqs, tablet PCs – wirelessly over a Bluetooth link."

He dismissed the possible security weaknesses of transmitting sensitive police information from a Tetra handset to a PDA via Bluetooth and said Airwave has developed a secure Bluetooth link that is set to be formally approved by the government this summer.

The use of Bluetooth with portable devices in addition to Tetra handsets means forces will have to fork out for more kit but Marston said police forces have indicated they prefer a choice of different devices for various situations.

"They don't see it as an extra cost. Bluetooth is not just a short-term fix. The market does want access to the whole choice of consumer devices. We are also looking at a Tetra modem card and the third option is a Tetra device."

Data transmission speeds, however, remain an issue with the Tetra network only capable of speeds of around 3Kbps. Some forces are already running GPRS alongside Airwave for some data-intensive tasks but Airwave hopes its Mobile Application Gateway (MAG) developed with Siemens will boost data capacity.

The MAG is a GPRS-enabled portal providing access to data services; Lancashire, one of the earliest Airwave adopters, is due to begin trialling it in Preston this week. Around 25 officers will be given O2 XDAs to access wider PNC checks and missing persons systems over GPRS.