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| 2011 World Youth Day in Madrid |
News Report
As announced in a press release, Cassidian's C4I technology was employed by Spanish Police forces during the recent World Youth Day in Madrid in order to ensure that all activities went smoothly and guaranteed the safety of the Pope and more than 1.5 million visitors. This event has been probably the most demanding for the national mobile voice and data communications network SIRDEE (Sistema de Radiocomunicaciones Digitales de Emergencia del Estado) in terms of the concentration of people being protected. Cassidian also actively participated in the maintenance support for the SIRDEE users: National Police, Civil Guard, Royal House and Prime Minister’s Office and offered together with Telefónica continuous 24 hours emergency support.
The number of SIRDEE network users more than doubled during peak times of the World Youth Day week in the area without any negative impact in the network performance. Individual calls increased more than 166 % during the busiest days, with full availability for the Tetrapol users. Group calls rose as well to 55 %. Over 10.000 members of the security forces guaranteed the safety of the pope and the pilgrims. Besides the protection of the pope and the public,the police forces had to face the challenge of maintaining order during the anti-Pope demonstrations. A special coordination room was created with 40 members of 13 different security organisations receiving input from the forces in the field.
The System
Deployed since 2000, the SIRDEE network is the national mobile voice and data communications network based on an infrastructure of TETRAPOL digital security radio communications technology supplied by Cassidian. Apart from the MoI organisations – Guardia Civil and National Police – several other users have joined SIRDEE. These include the Traffic Police, the Royal House, the Prime Minister's Cabinet, the Emergency Military Unit (UME), the Spanish Navy, the Galicia Region the Autonomous Police, the Torrelavega Local Police and Fire Brigade and the Cantabria Region Civil Protection Service, as well as the Balearic Islands and Logroño.
The Context
The World Youth Day with the Pope's four-day visit adds another high security event that required intensive use of the SIRDEE network, guaranteeing secure mission critical communication. Beside different emergency situations like the earthquake in Spain and the fires on Ibiza early this year, the Spanish security forces also relied on SIRDEE during the Royal Wedding of the Prince of Spain in 2004.
Further Readings
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