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PDAs lighten police workload
Technology is addressing the public and police forces' concern about officers spending too much time doing admin and not enough on the beat.
Combined with the efficiency savings drive of the Gershon review and the increase in the public's demand for greater visibility of the bobby on the beat, the challenges for police forces across the UK are as great as they have ever been. The most successful method of squaring this circle - of a squeeze on resources with a demand for greater police presence - has been the introduction of technology that free officers from the tedium of red tape.
With a £50million price tag, the government's investment programme in 10,000 handheld computers for police officers grabbed their fair share of headlines, but the debate on the value of mobile data solutions has since dissipated. Successful implementations of pilot schemes have demonstrated the value of the ability to share information quickly, efficiently and effectively between front and backline staff.
Since the Independent Review of Policing by Sir Ronnie Flanagan paved the way for the government to press ahead with innovative solutions to police forces' frustrations, the practical benefits of that investment is now coming to fruition. One such force is Warwickshire Police force, which for the past six months has undertaken a pilot scheme with Arqiva, the country's leading delivery partner in wireless managed services.
The tools of the trade
Acknowledged as one of the UK's safest counties in which to live in, Warwickshire Police cover the 764 square miles of Warwickshire, and serve a population of over half a million people, employing just under 1,000 officers and 950 civilian staff.
Arqiva, which has managed the force's radio communications system and provided an in-house Airwave support team since 1994, put together a tailored solution with technology consulting firm Detica, which covered every aspect of delivery, including design and security, commissioning, maintenance, and training of police staff and officers.
Peter Harris, head of mobile data at Arqiva's public safety division, recognised the opportunity for the county to be at the forefront of innovative policing. "Our long standing relationship with Warwickshire Police force meant we were able to quickly get to grips with their desire to provide technology that would play a decisive role in the way their officers could respond to situations."
Technology in practice
Thirty-three HTC 6500 handsets were distributed to officers spread over across three priority Safer Neighbourhood Teams. The devices provide rapid access to a wealth of practical information including email, maps and briefing documents. Crucially, the PDAs are linked to key information services via GPRS and airwave technology on a secure connection, specifically the Electoral Roll and the Police National Computer (PNC).
This level of data has its practical rewards for the individual officer, operations and large-scale events, as witnessed by the force at this year's Bulldog Bash Motorcycle festival. The PDA provides vital real-time information from the PNC without having to radio in the control room; in fact, one officer was able to complete 120 checks in one 12-hour period. Officers that have this immediate access to the PNC enable the control room to dedicate more time to emergencies instead of answering routine calls.
Richard Earland, CIO at the National Policing Improvement Agency, spoke convincingly earlier in the year of the need to free up officers to conduct necessary admin in the shortest possible time. "A very important part of this strategy is to roll out mobile devices so that officers don't have to return to the stations; the information can be captured once and used many times, and so that information that's available for operational decision making can be got to officers quickly."
In the same vein, Inspector Mark Payne, Warwickshire Police's business change manager said in a recent interview, "We need to greatly reduce all this paperwork, which is the Holy Grail." In practice, PDAs improve the overall speed of data flow and enable tasks to be completed whilst on the beat – officers are able to make notes, complete statements and enter all required information at the scene of an incident. Information is now easier to record, making the process of searching, retrieving and auditing clearer for back end staff. Instead of notes being handwritten and then typed up after a couple of weeks, the scope for human errors is dramatically reduced as officers can now upload notes with electronic forms that cut down on the duplication of work. As Inspector Payne explained, the benefits of mobile devices are clear: "You are dealing with data that is accurate and you've got a very clear idea of what your team are currently doing and where they are doing it. And it's more immediate: you don't have this time-lag of paperwork going on… Your crime pattern information and so on are all bang up to date".
Expectations
Home Office estimates suggest that an officer with a PDA will save approximately 99 minutes per shift. Warwickshire's own experience has demonstrated that the aspirations of government agencies are well placed. However, the challenges that lie ahead are twofold. Firstly, vendors and the police need to reassure and educate the public to address concerns about the security of personal data on remote devices; the units Arqiva provide are encrypted, with no data stored on a device after it is used and have the ability to wipe memory remotely.
Secondly, the government, vendors and police forces need to provide officers with the technology that keeps pace with the rest of society, a point made by Richard Earland: "The frontline patrolling officer is typically quite young in the service. They use very sophisticated third and fourth generation mobile phones in their private lives and they expect us to provide tools of that type to them." This expectation of mobile data solutions as an integral part of the future of policing comes not only from officers wanting to do their job to the best of their abilities, but also from the public who desire the visibility of the bobby on the beat.
Written by: Peter Harris, Head of Mobile Data, Arqiva.
