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Mobile email for efficient community policing
Humberside Police is about to begin trialing ‘smart phones’ from Orange as part of its Neighbourhood Policing Pathfinder Project. Dawn Davison-Read discusses the project with Roy Macdona, Computer Development Manager, Humberside Police and reports on why the decision to arm its neighbourhood beat officers with mobile email is likely to prove beneficial...
Earlier this year Humberside Police began a two stage pilot, which looked at the use of mobile telephony for managers (officers and staff) this trial was completed in April. However, following the review, when the force looked at the success of the trial it was decided that the use of mobile telephony could bring vast benefits to its Neighbourhood Policing teams.
Explaining, Roy Macdona, Computer Development Manager, Humberside Police said, “We were being driven to provide Blackberries to our non-operational staff, however, we avoided this as we believed if we waited the mobile phone industry would have matured further and handsets using windows applications would be developed. This has happened and following close scrutiny of the mobile applications on offer, we selected Orange to provide the smartphones and network.”
The trial initially began with devices such as the SPV3100, as it was essential that officers could use Microsoft Outlook on their devices. Macdona added, “The initial use was not meant for operational duty but for staff to have access to email and diaries when out of the office. It was also identified by the Superintendents Association that the use of mobile email was the single most productive benefit.”
Extending the trial to neighbourhood policing
Having completed this part of the trial successfully, Humberside Police decided to extend to neighbourhood policing officers, as part of its Neighbourhood Policing Pathfinder Project, thereby making the officers more available and visible to the local communities. “We selected one division (Scunthorpe) and we are about to roll out 60 devices to the Neighbourhood beat officers from this team, this includes 50 SPV3100’s and ten M700’s,” explained Macdona.
The ability for each member of the Neighbourhood Policing Team to provide their own email address to members of the community was in direct response to requests from the community.
“Although the devices are predominately for accessing and sending emails, the officers are authorised to use as mobile phones as well. We believe it will provide increased flexibility and an extended opportunity for the community to have access to individual officers. In addition to which, this is really the beginning of a journey in supporting operational policing with mobile data applications.”
Explaining further, David BraySmith, Mobile Data Project Manager, Humberside Police added, “This initial roll-out of mobile email will act as a learning curve for officers prior to us extending the applications to incorporate accessibility to more police systems, such as PNC checks, Crime databases and so forth.”
Discussing the quantity of equipment carried by officers, Macdona stated that the devices were small and lightweight in comparison, and although each officer would also be carrying an Airwave radio terminal for operational voice communication, they would be monitoring the aspect of potentially carrying too many devices.
Concluding, Acting Superintendent, Chris Baker (B Division) said, “The roll out of this equipment represents a major step for operational officers. It means they can be kept informed in crime trends, daily business, latest hot spot analysis and 24/7 email access enabling them to be even more responsive and flexible. In addition, this direct access for the public will naturally lead to improved service delivery by the force.”
