Western Australia comprises one third of the continent’s land mass. The WA Police Force is responsible for keeping the community safe across the largest policing jurisdiction in the world, from the Indian Ocean to the borders of the Northern Territory and South Australia.
However, much of the population is centered around the southwest corner of Western Australia.
“A lot of the time, when police officers are in regional or remote areas, they have zero communication,” said Grant Tucker, L3Harris Technologies senior Account Management manager. “There’s a lot of geographical area with no communications infrastructure in it, but you still need comms in those regions.”
Answering the Call for On-The-Move Communications
While L3Harris supports a number of Australian Defense Force programs, including Land 154, JP9102 and Land 53, the company is also a major player in modernizing public safety organizations across the globe to new Project 25 standards for critical-communications network interoperability.
The WA Police Force recently awarded Radlink Communications a tender to upgrade their current network terminals to P25-compliant L3Harris’ XL-200P radios. The WA Police Force listed Radlink Communications as a “preferred respondent,” supplying L3Harris products in December 2022, according to Tucker.
Radlink Communications is also providing the State with L3Harris’ newest mobile, a vehicle-mounted radio, the XL Onboard™ 200M. The WA Police Force have developed a proof-of-concept satellite capability using the L3Harris XL 200M, which will allow police officers in regional area to have several ways to connect with others as they move into different geographical regions.
An Expanding Solution Set for Future Connectivity Needs
During the procurement process, L3Harris and Radlink Communications outlined various ways WA Police Force could establish a foundational capability that could be enhanced as needs evolved by leveraging the firm’s wide solutions portfolio. The Mission Critical Alliance, a coalition of like-minded industry vendors focused on “standards-based designs that give customers a choice,” was also an important factor, according to Tucker.
“By choosing Radlink Communications supplying the L3Harris products – and, by extension, the MCA – the Western Australian Police Force now has more choices by procuring proprietary-agnostic solutions,” said Tucker. “We are willing to work with other parties to provide our customers the best solution based on their needs. Their jurisdiction is a massive area of various terrains, and they can now take out and fit an off-the-shelf satellite product to their vehicles and maintain the same level of secure communications as when they’re on their own home network.”
Supporting New Customers and Growth in Australia
L3Harris has won a similar, smaller Australian Capital Territory emergency services communications contract, awarded six years ago, and the experience gained supporting that contract helped L3Harris prepare for this program, according to Tucker.
The tender for the new P25 terminals is the first step in the WA Police Force’s progress toward fully upgrading its entire communications network to properly address the challenges it faces in the 21st century. This includes dispatch console upgrades for the mission critical operations at their State Operations Command Centre.
