The University Police yesterday began operating a new radio system that will give Harvard unprecedented communication with other nearby police departments and with security guards and student security patrols.

Until the Boston Area Police Emergenes Radio Network (BAPERN) system was switched on at 8 a.m. the University department only had direct radio contact with the Cambridge Police. The new system, installed at a cost of $280.000, allows Harvard to monitor and broadcast to all police agencies in the metropolitan area bounded by Rte 128.

University Police Chief Saul I. Chatin said yesterday that the radio link with the Boston department should improve protection at the Medical and Business Schools. Contact with the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) police should aid patrols along Memorial Drive, he added.

Installing BAPERN required the department to replace both car radios and walkie talkies. As a result, Chatin said, the old walkie-talkies will be used by security guards and student security working in the Houses and on foot patrols.

Previously, contact between these security personnel and the University police had been limited to the telephone.