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Man pleads guilty to police radio 'hacking'
21/12/2001
A 37-YEAR-OLD Lower Broughton man has today (Friday) pleaded guilty to public nuisance in connection with a crackdown on bogus radio transmissions on police frequencies.
John Edwards, of Earl Street, was arrested as part of Operation Vertebra, which was launched to tackle the problem of bogus radio transmissions across Central Manchester.
Officers are working alongside the Government's radio monitoring department to track music transmissions, as well as speech output and they have seized a quantity of hi-fi equipment as well as scanning devices.
Greater Manchester Police's Inspector Ken Ward said: "These type of transmissions are not only a nuisance but also put people's lives at risk. They stop police officers communicating and there have been a number of incidents where important information couldn't be passed on. One officer who needed to call an ambulance for a man with severe head injuries couldn't be heard over the music which was being transmitted over the police frequency.
"This is something we are taking very seriously, we will track these people down and prosecute them."
Today's conviction comes as Greater Manchester Police's new "Airwave" radio system - developed to crack down on the problem - is being rolled out across the force. The £12.5 million project which has been partly funded by the Government can't be "scanned" by unauthorised users or subject to bogus transmissions.
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