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Transforming frontline effectiveness
Roy Hawes, commercial director, Beat Systems, analyses how police forces are increasingly looking to improve officer effectiveness by utilising mobile data solutions to provide on the spot access to PNC information. Yet success can only be achieved if the technologies seamlessly integrate with core back-end systems...
Police forces are increasingly looking at mobile data solutions to provide on the spot access to PNC information to improve officer effectiveness. But, while offering some value, these solutions only scratch the surface and fail to address the key challenge facing the police across the UK today: how to balance the need for cost efficiency with an increase in visible policing.
Yet mobile technologies are of no value unless they interact directly with core back end systems. This tight integration enables two-way benefits – improving on the ground information and removing the administrative burden. By integrating mobile technology with multiple core operational systems, forces can remove time consuming and expensive data entry, deliver on the ground access to multiple intelligence resources and give each officer an additional one and a half hours on the beat each day, says Roy Hawes, Commercial Director, Beat Systems.
Information challenge
Police forces across the UK are experiencing an unprecedented information backlog that is fundamentally affecting both morale and ability to deliver effective policing. In many cases it takes weeks rather than days to get crime reports and intelligence reports logged into the system; while tortuous manual processes for attaining information from neighbouring forces is resulting in many cases not even coming before the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
And this is despite the fact that the majority of police officers are spending more than 50% of their time on form filling, administration and reporting, rather than actively fighting crime. Sickness absence is on the rise as officers lose faith in an administrative process that requires each incident to be recorded in up to four separate systems.
In a highly mobile and technologically adept era, these endemic manual and highly bureaucratic processes are actively constraining effective policing. Why do officers who, for years, have had mobile communication devices, still make manual case notes at the scene that have to be re-entered back at the station? Why are they still actively constrained by the time taken to attain vital information relating to suspects?
Keeping a potentially difficult situation under control whilst waiting 20 minutes for command and control to undertake a Police National Computer (PNC) check is hardly a valuable or productive use of time.
Why is the experience and expertise of these highly trained individuals being misused in a bid to meet requirements for improved government reporting to deliver accountability and transparency?
Without doubt the improvements in cross department and cross-force information are delivering benefits by providing country wide intelligence. But it is still only accessible from a central location. How much more effective could these individuals be if they had secure access to this information whilst responding to a call?
Visible policing
As forces are increasingly monitored, measured and placed in League Tables, there is a growing requirement to improve efficiency, achieve highly visible policing and attain quantifiable cash savings. But how can forces balance the need to be visible with the requirement to reduce costs and improve efficiency?
It is no surprise that many forces are increasingly interested in mobile data solutions that offer officers direct PNC access within seconds. It releases pressure on command and control and should ensure officers are more productive with faster access to information.
But such a solution only addresses a fraction of the problem. Firstly, PNC data does not provide the whole picture. Officers actually need access to a breadth of information from PNC and crime systems, intelligence systems and electoral register. It is only by providing this depth of up to date information – which can include a suspect photograph – that officers have the complete view required to be truly effective.
Secondly, mobile data solutions should be used not only to receive information but also to streamline the administrative process. Incident details recorded on the hand held device can be used to automatically update every one of the force’s operational systems – in order – from crime to intelligence.
By using the technology in this way, forces can remove the massive administrative burden from police officers, releasing them to concentrate on the job they are trained to do. Furthermore, it ensures information is up to date and accurate – removing the extensive backlog and providing a better chance of getting cases to court.
Improved intelligence
In fact, by improving both on the ground information access and reducing the administrative requirement, mobile data solutions have been proven to add one and a half hours per day on the beat for each officer.
Furthermore, that time on the beat is quantifiably more productive. Not only is improved real-time information leading to more arrests but the ease with which information can be recorded in the field is significantly boosting the volume and quality of intelligence reports.
It also provides a platform to improve cross-force collaboration. Whilst forces have been tasked with the development of several country-wide information resources in recent years, such as NMIS and IMPACT, as yet there is no effective way of attaining information relating to a specific individual from another force. The process is manual and typically takes at least a week.
Using an integrated mobile data solution provides the ability to improve cross-force information sharing. Creating a network of gateway systems, once inter-force co-operation has been agreed, officers can automatically attain information on criminals residing in a different police area within the standard information search. Providing real-time access to this complete breadth of information will prove invaluable in supporting both the officer on the beat and, if required, the creation of a valid case for the CPS.
Financial reward
Ensuring effective policing is, undoubtedly, the primary goal for the 52 forces across the UK. However, with ever tightening budgets, it is also essential to improve efficiency and drive down costs.
Mobile data solutions undoubtedly have a role to play in improving officer productivity. Real-time intelligence empowers officers, enabling them to make important decisions at the point of encounter, with up to date, trusted information.
Furthermore it improves officer safety; ensuring individuals are prepared and avoid entering potentially dangerous situations alone.
However, without addressing the administrative overload, officers will still spend 50% of their time filling in forms. By automating back end processes forces can attain significant financial savings and, critically, ensure highly skilled officers spend more time in the community, radically improving service delivery with highly visible policing.
