Why are communications important?

Communications are vital to any ongoing situations, incidents and operations. Communications allow for members to be fully aware of what is occurring at situations and plan their response accordingly. A variety of information can be provided via communications:

• Location of an incident

• Duration of an incident

• Description of suspect

• Crimes committed

• Status of Incident

• Vehicle Descriptions, Speeds and Damage

• Plan of Action

Other state codes may be utilised but within CMG are not enforced or taught such as State 4 - On Break and State 3 - Available at Station.

Do not speak over others when they are using the radio.

Nine times out of ten you should wait for a break in order to call up on the radio but there are rare occasions that may require you to interrupt radio traffic. In this situation, be clear and concise as to why, keep it short and sweet.

Example of good communications are:

• "CN-100 state five to the Tonga Valley Store Robbery"

• "T-24, I have a fail to stop Blue Mustang Legion towards  Casino Highway, can I have additional units please"  (you would then wait for further units to assign before giving pursuit comms)

• "NPAS-1 state 6 at the strip club store, there are two white males with phase 2 firearms, black top, white bottoms. Can I have additional ground units"

Managing radios is a key part of effective policing - so if you attend a situation where there's a hostage (or if a pursuit develops and it is possible) please move it over to a separate radio, here you can either use Radio 2/3 or utilise any of th  e interops channels.  To create interops radio channels, yupr /interops 1 then press enter or use a number that suits you.

During pursuits, the communications should be NPAS followed by the primary vehicle, meaning if there is NPAS at the scene they should provide communications. If NPAS is not present, then the lead vehicle (which should be a member of RPU) should provide communications.

Useful link National Police Air Service - POIs 

Communications training can be done by a Flight Instructor or a Senior Flight Instructor listed in the NPAS Info channel in Discord.