Pernambuco Military Police, Brazil
The Polícia Militar de Pernambuco (PMPE) is the Brazilian public safety agency responsible for maintaining law and order for a population of 8,745,000 across the northeastern coastal state of Pernambuco.
Crime levels are high in the state, with the capital Recife, the fourth largest metropolitan area and ninth most populous city in Brazil, recording some of the highest rates of homicide, express kidnapping, and drug offences in Brazil.
The PMPE, organized around seven operational units, contains approximately 30,000 personnel.
“Since Tait has entered the public security market in Brazil we have seen prices for high quality digital equipment fall dramatically, saving the state millions of dollars”
Coronel Humaitá, PMPE.
The Challenge
The goal of the PMPE has been to significantly improve crime statistics by investing in better communications for police officers. In particular, the police aim to reduce homicide rates by 12% per annum in line with targets set out in the ambitious Plano Estadual de Segurança Públicade Pernambuco.
The PMPE had already invested in an 800 MHz P25 trunked system to employ a digital technology with excellent wide-area coverage that had been proven in public safety. Now they wished to take advantage of the multivendor promise of the P25 open standard adding Tait subscriber equipment to their network.
The Solution
After quality testing sample radios on the system, the PMPE placed an initial order of 553 Tait P25 mobiles and 150 P25 portables. It was critical that the Tait equipment should interoperate seamlessly with existing equipment.
The Outcome
The Tait subscriber equipment proved itself on the PMPE network in the most cost-effective manner, vindicating the commitment Pernambuco made to the P25 open standard and enabling them to better equip a larger number of their frontline officers. On this basis the PMPE placed a larger second order for 2,500 portables. Tait, as a result, now accounts for 95% of subscriber units used by the Pernambuco Military Police.
