Keeping Police connected - in all conditions

It was a perfect blue-sky day when Police District Service Engineer Kevin Bell and a colleague made the 25-minute helicopter flight into the Mt Riley radio site to carry out prevention maintenance.

Within a few hours the weather had turned and the journey home was looking rather more challenging.   Kevin says they were due to spend around four hours at Mt Riley, a class-A site that provides radio linking and mobile radio coverage across Marlborough and beyond for Police and Fire.   After around 90 minutes clouds descended on the site and it was apparent flying back out would not be possible.

“We called off the helicopter, logged our intentions with the Haz-Tech team at the ICT Service Desk and set off on foot,” says Kevin.

The pair trekked down Mt Riley – a 1311-metre peak in the Richmond Range near Blenheim - over nearly 10km of challenging ground.

“There was no obvious track and we used GPS for navigation as we pushed through steep rocky sections down to native forest, pine plantation and over deer fences,” says Kevin.

The men had contacted the Southern Communications Centre and Constable Spencer Kingi, from Havelock, drove out to collect them when they reached the road.

“We were very pleased to see him as we were still pretty far off the beaten track.”

The next day there was a small weather window and Kevin and his colleague flew back to Mt Riley to collect their equipment.

“Our work in keeping these exposed sites operational is vital for emergency service communication, particularly in the remote regions of New Zealand,” says Acting Chief Information Officer Superintendent Jevon McSkimming.

“I know from experience that Constable Kingi would have been more than happy to collect them, and grateful for the work we do in helping keep him and his colleagues safe and connected.”