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Gloucestershire Constabulary addresses data quality issues
Gloucestershire Constabulary chooses SAS to tackle data quality for operational efficiency – the move is predicted to allow the force to have access to up-to-date intelligence enabling police officers to be in the right place at the right time more often.
Using SAS Data Integration Server, Gloucestershire Constabulary has been able to address data quality concerns associated with human error and inaccurate details collected from criminals which cannot be verified on the street. The technology ensures that information on crime is kept up to date and meets the standards driven by the Management of Police Information initiative in databases including Vehicle Parking and Fixed Penalty Offences (VPFPO), Domestic Violence and Unity, which contain core information on crime and custody. Ensuring the data across these databases is always accurate gives reliable intelligence to the Gloucestershire police as well as the other 43 forces across the country.
“Every organisation faces data quality issues, but in the police force, we have all the usual problems such as bad spelling and mis-keying, magnified by the fact that many of the people we are dealing with are less than entirely honest. Criminals give us all kinds of false information such as wrong date of birth or misspelled first names," said Reg Barnard, head of Gloucestershire Constabulary’s information system development.
The solution was originally selected as part of the force’s Vision 5 program to make investments to promote effective and efficient services. But with recent amendments to the Freedom of Information Act in 2005, the force came under new obligations to keep data in good order.
Commenting on the project, Richard Kellett, director of marketing at SAS UK said: “As open and transparent data becomes more of a priority in Government, there is a growing need for police forces to ensure that their information is both correct and easily interpretable. Delays or mistakes that result from incorrect data can put lives at risk and affect public confidence. Without good quality information, organisations cannot trust the insight it provides which is why data quality sits at the heart of our solutions.”
