M.R.S’s Carl Duarte, key account manager, and Sarah Ridings, account manager, visited the town on 28 May 2019 – along with two engineers, Neil Court and Wayne Russell – to install the new communications system, which consists of a single MOTOTRBO SLR5500, A TRBOnet radio dispatch solution and 34 SL2600 two-way radio handsets.
Each handset is assigned to a different shop or pub, and assigned caller IDs, making it easy to see which BID member is speaking. The TRBOnet Enterprise solution allows the dispatcher to send texts to the users. A full coverage survey was performed before installing the system and its antenna at the BID’s office in the village.
Ridings told Land Mobile that given the number of users, the fact that many pubs on the scheme are open during the day while quite a few retailers continue to communicate after 6pm, and some incidents in which shoplifters had attempted to sell stolen goods in pubs, it was decided to have all the users on a single talk group, rather than have one for the day-time economy and one for the night-time.
Kate Smart, BID manager at Harborne Village BID, said: “[It’s] great to have the team from M.R.S. Communications visit us… to launch our new shop radio system! The most effective method of crime prevention in communities is communication, so we’re delighted to be working in partnership with our security warden and local businesses to help keep the area safe. Thank you M.R.S. Communications for swinging by to help us set up.”
The Harborne Village BID was awarded its Business Improvement District (BID) status in October 2017 and since then has been focusing on continually improving communication in the Harborne area. Part of its mission is to encourage businesses to communicate and work with each other – which is vital for crime prevention. The BID aims to improve the retail and business profile of Harborne with the hope that this will guide custom and inward investment to Harborne businesses.
