Merseyside
Police Trials Satellite Technology
Thousands
of people visited Merseyside at the weekend for the Tall Ships and Open
Golf Championship events and Merseyside Police worked hard to ensure that
they had a safe and exciting time watching them.
During the busy weekend the force trialled Global Positioning Systems
(GPS) technology which enabled commanders at police head quarters to track
individual officers and vehicles at the events.
It is anticipated that the technology will greatly enhance the force's
ability to protect the public and its officers by responding quickly and
efficiently to any incidents that may occur.
Total war on crime
The RUAG technology group has worked with Merseyside Police to develop
the system which detects signals from transponders carried by officers
and in vehicles. They could also be attached to police dog collars if
the trial is developed further.
Assistant Chief Constable, Simon Byrne, said 'We are constantly striving
to find new and innovative ways to fight the Total War on Crime. We will
evaluate the effectiveness of this trial by looking at improvements in
the way we deploy our officers to incidents and, if successful, we will
consider extending the technology further into our organisation.'
Merseyside Police is the first UK force to trial the technology as it
works to increase efficiencies in its frontline operations. The same technology
was used successfully during the Euro 2008 Championships and for the last
three years at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
