Christchurch Police tune out criminals

Christchurch criminals will no longer be able to snoop on Police communications and track their movements thanks to a new digital radio network, Police Minister Judith Collins said.

Police in the Christchurch City area successfully cut over to the new digital radio network on 1 November. Unlike the previous network, which was analogue, the digital network is secure and cannot be monitored using radio scanners.

"Police are tuning out the criminals," Ms Collins said.

"In the past criminals have been able to buy a scanner and listen in on Police communications.

"This had the potential to compromise the safety of Police operations and give criminals an early warning of whether patrols were nearby.

"This has been shown in Christchurch where mobs of illegal street racers have used scanners to monitor the movements of officers.

"Now the only people who will be able to listen in on the Police will be the Police."

The digital network will be used by frontline Police staff, the Southern Communications Centre management and dispatch teams.

The cutover of Christchurch City to digital radio follows the first rollout in Wellington Police District last year.

The digital radio network is scheduled to be launched in Auckland City next week, followed by Counties-Manukau at the end of this month and Waitemata in early December. 

In the meantime, North Canterbury and Selwyn will switch over later this month and Mid and South Canterbury in February next year.

This will complete the rollout of phase one of the programme and mean three major cities will have secure digital radio networks.  Other Police districts will be upgraded as part of the phase two rollout.