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Police Technology Review Conference
The Police Technology Review Conference in London proved to be a very insightful event with talks by leading employees of police forces from across the UK. From the implementation of PDAs to the role the DVLA can play to help police forces there was a lot of interesting and intriguing information discussed and the BAPCO Journal was there to cover it.
On March 20 the Police Technology Review Conference took place in London and proved to be a very insightful event with talks by leading employees of police forces from across the UK. From the implementation of PDAs to the role the DVLA can play to help police forces there was a lot of interesting and intriguing information discussed.
Bedfordshire Police – Inspector Jim Hitch
Inspector Jim Hitch gave an overview of the way in which Bedfordshire police had gone about implementing the use of mobile data through PDAs. He explained that previously officers had to keep coming back to the station to fill in forms that would take up valuable beat time. However, with the implementation of the PDAs many pieces of work can now be done on the street, allowing police to be on the street, helping to maintain higher visibility.
Inspector Hitch explained that Bedfordshire had looked at mobile data before, around five or six years ago, but had decided it was too soon, but this time decided the technology was suitably relevant to be implemented. The PDAs were first trialed in Luton, Bedfordshire’s busiest area, to see how they could cope in the toughest conditions. After they passed the decision was made to go ahead with the take up of around 1,200 devices. However, he explained that the process was designed to ensure everything was covered from consultation, training and support to make sure officer sand other staff fully understood the new PDAs.
The next decision was how to roll them out – either all at once or incrementally. In the end an incremental approach was chosen to allow any problems or unforeseen issues to be dealt with before the next allocation were handed out. The benefits to officers have been instant with PNC databases and briefings now accessible on the beat, and urgent messages can be broadcast instantly to officers, including images, which could be vital for helping to find missing children or criminals in the area.
However, there are still issues to be overcome, and it has been noted by Bedfordshire that around 10% of the PDAs issued are not being switched on. The challenge is to find out why this is and try and get these people to understand the benefits of the new technology.
Furthermore feedback from officers has seen the majority reporting no problems at all. The full results showed the following: 128 – no problems, 93 – ease of use of keyboard, 67 – connectivity, 34 – synchronization problems, 17 – battery life, 15 – weight, 5 – robustness. The issues though are initial problems that Bedfordshire hope to be able to address and with the PDAs currently improving the amount of time officers spend on the beat, they are already proving their worth.
Nottinghamshire Police – Martine Hansen, Director of Communication
Martin Hansen began by praising the work of Bedfordshire and the thoroughness of their processes when implementing PDAs and explained that Nottinghamshire had followed the Bedfordshire experiments closely to help their own decision-making processes.
Martin went on to explain the backend situation regarding the implementation of such systems and that there were many steps to go through to ensure everything can be joined together effectively. The complexity of the implementation of such systems was something else that Martin highlighted, citing the various pressures and considerations of business processes, the seemingly unlimited potential number of business partners, the management of key systems for court, contract issues, national and local priorities and making sure everything runs smoothly.
As an analogy the moon landing was held up as a good example of the way such implementation of technology should be approached. A clear objective is vital, i.e. a man on the moon and back again within the decade, as outlined by JFK. Furthermore the end users (or astronauts) must be considered at all time as they are the ones who will be actually using the technology – indeed Buzz Aldrin’s PhD was actually used for some of the key docking stage fittings. Lastly you have to be flexible to changes and have ‘backing champions’ who will support your project from the highest levels – as NASA did from JFK.
ABeam Consulting – David Jones, Advisor Regional Collaboration
The importance of inter-constabulary communication was addressed in the next talk by David Jones of ABeam Consulting who explained how they had helped the constabularies of the South West collaborate with one another more effectively. The need for good communication channels is especially important when dealing with large scale crime and organised crime that can be spread over several counties and boundaries. Therefore by making sure that the different forces are in communication they can hope to have a better chance of eliminating the criminal element.
However, there are barriers to such collaborations, both technical and political. David explained that sometimes forces are wary of being to open with their information. Furthermore legal and technical issues mean some forces find it hard to set up effective and secure channels of communication and so find their initial drive to implement such procedures wane.
Lastly the sharing or organisation of costs is another factor that can become a major obstacle in forces desire to come together effectively. But the benefits of collaboration, as seen by the South West example, means forces should seriously look at how they are currently sharing data and if they could improve it in any way.
David went on from this to outline the experiences of defining officer needs from mobile working in Wiltshire and the fact it was very ‘business rather than technology led’, this being key to success. All too often people focus on the technology rather than the benefits new ways of working can bring.
Originally officers were spending around 15% of their time traveling back to the station and this was wasting a lot of their time. So by making sure officer needs were put first, and that they were fully involved in defining their needs from the system, it led to a greater effort for the final solution. The importance of getting officers involved in the process of implementation helps to make sure that the devices you give out will be used and will bring the benefits they are supposed to.
As David concluded, “our aim has always been to deliver a mobile working solution that meets officer needs. Being pro-active in their use of mobile devices is essential to a modern police force.”
Driver and vehcile Licensing Agency (DVLA) – Richard Kitchen, Policy and External Communications Director
The next talk focused on the DVLA’s new Driver Validation System or DVS. This allows the police to access data on the 44 million drivers who are logged on the system. However, Richard was quick to point out this information cannot be used for crime purposes, but purely for traffic management request – i.e. when dealing with someone on the road side, to access information sooner and check the person they are talking is who they say they are.
This gives an officers greater safety and allows them to process road-side stops far quicker than previously. The DVS system was rolled out in March of this year to all police forces and authorities to allow them access to the database.
Currently the DVLA receives around 8,000 enquirers a week on this system, underlining the role it is already playing in helping officers on the street. However, the DVS system is also used by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the Driving Standards Agency (DSA), Her Majesty’s Courts Services (HMCS) and the Vehicle Operator Services Agency (VOSA) for information request and driver details. With information on 44 million drivers, 27 million photographs and signatures, entitlement information, and many more areas it is a tool that the police and other organisations can take many benefits from.
Richard summarised that the DVS systems is a real benefit to the police, as well as the other organisations, as it allows them to deal with people at the road side in a safe, secure and legal manner as it is all compliant with ACPO guidelines. And as it is still in its infancy there are many more benefits and improvements to be added over time.
Lancashire Constabulary – Stuart Fillingham and Jan Booth
The final talk of the day looked the impact the roll out of PDAs had had for police in Lancashire. The joint top performing force in the country Lancashire have a budget of Ł250 million, a force of 3,500 police officers and police staff of 2,500 to cover a population of 1.5 million people.
There are 1,000 PDAs rolled out to neighbourhood management teams, and around 220 Mobile Data Terminals (MDTs), primarily given to 24-hour vehicles and ANPR – around 33% of their fleet. The wide range of coverage means time spent stopping and checking can be greatly improved as well as improving visibility. Stuart showed a flow diagram underlining the speed and efficiency of having a PDA against the more traditional radio terminals.
On a PDA it takes around seven seconds to retrieve the data you need from the relevant database and requires no one else to get involved. With a radio terminal you have to contact an operator, once sufficient radio space is freed up, and they then have to go through various channels, before getting back to you, with again potential delays.
The speed and streamlined system on the PDAs allows officers to deal with people far more quickly and efficiently not only making their roles safer but also improving their interaction with the public. As mentioned, the speed of data transmission and briefings again increases the time officers can be on the streets and in the cases of missing children massively increases the chances of finding them as a picture and information can be sent out to every officer in possession of a PDA.
Stuart’s co-speaker Jan Booth gave a demonstration of how the system would be used by an officer and the result were certainly quick. The cost ratio benefits of the devices are massive as the extra visibility the devices allow officers to have is equivalent to 2.5 million pounds of extra manpower.
