My final recommendation ... is that the TETRA system be halted until further research on safety has been carried out. This research be made available to the ladies and gentlemen of the police force and not until they are satisfied with the safety of the system, should it be implemented. In other words, I am suggesting that the police have the final say in whether TETRA is introduced or not to their force. I believe the ladies and gentlemen of the police force should be credited with the intelligence they have to make decisions regarding their own safety.
‘In the 1960s I trained at the Government Microwave Warfare Establishment. I worked with the Underwater Bomb disposal unit which used microwaves within its unit. In the 1970s one of my tasks over an eleven year period was to de-brief spies involved in microwave warfare. The location and process that I used I cannot go into as it is still considered secret. I have two Degrees, and a Diploma and in my retirement I now teach Advanced Level Physics, some Mathematics and some Human Physiology at South Dartmoor College.
‘In September 2001 I was commissioned by the Police Federation to write ‘The Tetra Report’.
Barrie Trower is no fly-by-night pseudo scientist, out to scare and make a name for himself. It’s just that he knows what he is talking about.
Meanwhile, in January 2002, some 30 police officers were reported as suffering from illnesses relating to the use of TETRA. The report was not yet released post-peer review. Rather than be accused of sitting on a report that warned of these things, the Report was released by the Police Federation of England and Wales. An officer released the Report onto the Internet, where it was rapidly ‘adopted’ and disseminated by campaign groups.
TETRA stands for TErrestrial Trunked RAdio. It is the new national police radio system, operated mainly by O2 under the brand name of Airwave. Planned since early 1990, the contract was given in March 2000 to BT and Motorola, without going to tender.
...
With Airwave in place, of course, the market is opened up to O2. Here are the invited parties (see sharers list at the bottom of the linked page), all potentially sharing the same 3,700 masts. Airwave is billed as ‘HMG Critical National Infrastructure’. Read carefully: Airwave is to carry voice and data without the aid of conventional mobile and fixed telephony.
...
Christopher Huhne MEP tabled the following question in the European Parliament on 28 April 2004:
‘Will the Commission state what EU legislation on procurement should apply to the purchasing of the Tetra system by the United Kingdom for communications use of its police forces?
Is the Commission satisfied that the UK government complied with the relevant provisions in letting this contract?’
The official line is that Tetrapol dropped out of the running during the tendering process. This is untrue. Tetrapol was excluded, leaving only BT (pre mmO2) to tender.
Sir (then Mr) John Gieve was responsible for the Airwave contract, its costs and its risks. Read this Parliamentary cross-examination carefully. Have the criticisms gone away? No. If anything they are underlined.
... [Ed: And what happened to Huhne? ]
Beware of this myth: ‘Airwave is a national police contract.’ It is not. The contract is between the Home Office and O2 Airwave. Each police authority can decide for itself what system to adopt for its emergency communications.
Beware of this myth: ‘Stopping TETRA compromises the safety of the public’ (and similar phrases, ‘is against the public interest’, ‘is against national security’). No. It is for the Home Office and Police Authorities to equip themselves appropriately to do the job we pay them to do. The wrong kind of truncheon/baton, the wrong kind of police car, the wrong kind of radio system: all are the same kind of decision. The wrong choice of equipment is something we should all be free to challenge.
Beware of this myth: ‘Airwave is vital for getting your ambulance on time.’ Firstly, Airwave is not being used by ambulance trusts to improve arrival-to-scene performance. A few are using the network to prove IP-protocol links to PDAs (ie linking handheld computers to the Internet for file transfer, like this website) which is not using the Airwave TETRA data protocol, or voice, as the police are.
Beware of this myth: ‘TETRA helped at the Madrid bombings and the Olympic games.’ Spain used Tetrapol. The limited use of TETRA handsets (not a TETRA network) in Madrid proved so unreliable that TETRA is unlikely ever to be considered again. At the Olymics there is no network, only TETRA handsets used as walkie-talkies.
Beware of this myth: ‘TETRA provides ultimate security from criminals and terrorists through end-to-end encryption.’ The only true security is the same as mobile phones; the signal is digital. Transmissions between masts are not encrypted.
Too often, police authorities and O2 Airwave have directly and openly implied that were a prospective landlord to refuse a TETRA mast, they would be unable to police them. Blackmail? Well, certainly not an appropriate approach by our police forces.
Gittisham is the Devon village that was to be sold off by the landowner/lord until a major publicity campaign by local residents made him think again. The locals are now fighting a TETRA proposal. They report:
‘O2 have told the landowner that he could be prosecuted by villagers if someone died amidst a ‘disaster’ situation made difficult by the absence of a mast.’
Outcome? Mast refused because of health fears, and because the mast was not necessary anyway.
Joined: 30 Jul 2006 Posts: 6060 Location: East London
Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2014 3:59 am Post subject:
I printed several pages of the following:
Wi-Fi – A Thalidomide in the Making. Who Cares?:
(This is an article by Barrie Trower)
Barrie Trower - Danger - Tetra - Microwave Radiation – Cancer:
(Very good introduction to Barrie's stuff - just 24 minute video);
Barrie Trower's address to the Devon Cornwall Police Federation re TETRA
(Just put the 'bold' headlines in the search engine)
(You can fit it 7 times on a sheet), then cut the strips out and give them to police, ambulancemen and firemen (they don't use the TETRA handsets, but their fire engine's main radio is TETRA); also to London Underground personnel.
Some already know about it; I spoke to two police officers at a demo in Trafalgar Square, they both knew about it, and one said he only had two years before retirement, so he couldn't resign.
This sort of action also can diffuse feelings of hostility as well; I have seen demonstrators baiting cops who were not being aggressive at all, just doing their jobs. I even saw some demonstrators accusing the police of 'protecting' and opposition demo against ours (for Venezuela), when in reality the opposition was much more numerous than ours, and I was very pleased they were there.
There are of course instances where the police are very heavy-handed in dealing with demonstrations, but there is no point in stoking hostility when they are just doing their job. _________________ 'And he (the devil) said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them'. Luke IV 5-7.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum You cannot attach files in this forum You can download files in this forum
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Chat
Usergroups
Calendar
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
]
