Engineers of Teltronic Brazil have been highly commended by police authorities in Rio de Janeiro for their support during serious riots involving drug gangs in November. Teltronic collaborated with the State Telecommunications Department (DETEL-RJ) to enhance its TETRA network and provide vital support for police officers carrying out operations in the city.

Serious disturbances occurred in a number of Rio de Janeiro districts, including Vila Cruzeiro and Complexo do Alemão, and the situation became so acute that police and Special Forces intervened decisively on November 25. Their operations lasted for several days before the situation was brought under control, drawing wide media coverage as the actions of the regional government and police authorities were placed in the spotlight.

Shared network

The city-wide TETRA network was installed in record time by Teltronic Brazil during 2007, in preparation for the Pan-American Games. It consisted of over 20 fixed and mobile sites, and more than 15?000 radio terminals were made available to multiple users – including Rio de Janeiro civil and military police – to manage this international event.

Subsequently, the network continued to provide secure communications to major public safety organizations. With further coverage and capacity enhancements provided by Teltronic Brazil, the network now provides 1W hand-portable coverage across the whole of the city from 31 radio sites.

Rapid response

On the recent outbreak of violence, engineers from the Rio State Department of Telecommunications (DETEL-RJ) and Teltronic Brazil were called into action to set up and maintain secure communications links between the public safety and civil defence forces and Special Forces troops on the ground in the conflict areas.

Over several days, DETEL and Teltronic Brazil worked night and day, programming and activating some 130 additional radios for armoured vehicles and motorcycles for front-line and military police personnel; preparing and activating an additional repeater site to improve radio coverage in the conflict zones; creating a new radio link between this site and an existing one; and setting up gateways to allow communications inside the armoured vehicles.

“The operations carried out jointly by DETEL and Teltronic during the recent disturbances were a total success and have led to very positive comments in the local press,” said Marcos Peniche, technical director of DETEL-RJ. “We are extremely pleased with the way Teltronic’s engineers worked together with us to find quick, effective solutions to a number of difficulties faced during these operations.”