Grenada Police Force

“The Tait base station is light, robust and water resistant, and the internal batteries make it a self contained unit. The Tait terminals also stood up well to use in a very demanding environment, and the power save function in the Tait portables maximised shift life for the batteries.”

William Burton, M&M

The Challenge

Two-thirds of Grenada residents were left homeless by the disaster and Police mobile communication was urgently required to co-ordinate emergency relief and enforce a dusk-to-dawn curfew to prevent looting. Virtually all power lines were down and all communication links destroyed.

Mobile & Marine (M&M) Systems, the Tait dealer in neighbouring Barbados, was urgently asked to provide temporary Police communications.

Within 24 hours M&M had programmed radios, flown a staff member to Grenada who liaised with the Police, and had a temporary system in place.

The Solution

A 25W Tait portable repeater was installed at the Police headquarters on a hill above the capital city. A Tait mobile was installed as a base radio at the main Grenada airport, and Police were issued with Tait portables.

The portable repeater operated on its built-in battery for more than 24 hours until a generator was found. Until power was restored the portable radio chargers were connected to 12V car batteries salvaged from vehicles destroyed by the hurricane. Placing a portable repeater on a high site is an effective way of quickly creating communications following an emergency.

"In emergency situations the Tait portable base station/repeater is a logical choice," says William Burton from M&M. "The base station is light, robust and water resistant, and the internal batteries make it a self contained unit. The Tait terminals also stood up well to use in a very demanding environment, and the power save function in the Tait portables maximised shift life for the batteries."