Feature Story - Advanced Encryption for Emergency Radio System

Communicating during an emergency is critical. First responders, law enforcement and others need to be able to talk to each other. Joint operations involving multiple agencies happen all the time. Securing their radio transmissions has helped ease one of their greatest challenges.

The common mobile radio system they use, called TMR2, was recently upgraded to a next-generation, all-digital system. Those upgrades brought greater interoperability for agencies and better transmission quality and encrypted communication for users.

The TMR2 system is one of the first examples of a shared, multi-province radio system in North America. The upgraded system is up and running in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island already, and will be in operation in New Brunswick by the end of 2016. In the end, the TMR2 radio system will be shared by virtually all public safety and public works field staff and volunteers in the Maritimes. That's about 23,000 users across municipal, provincial and federal governments.

Nova Scotia is working to ensure responders from multiple agencies and jurisdictions can communicate securely in an emergency. We're providing leadership across the public sector so that first responders and other have the communications tools they need to do their jobs and keep Nova Scotians safe.