ICT

INNOVATION: More than 90% of UK police forces are now looking to invest in cloud infrastructure and technologies; but as well as delivering security and improved flexibility, the move to the cloud is also driving greater equality and sustainability, as Chris Oldham, Head of UK Public Sector for Citrix, explained in this article for Emerging Tech in Policing Week.

ANALYSIS: Collaboration is increasingly the approach of public sector service delivery, yet common insights highlight that collaborative efforts face a number of challenges that can lead to failure or discontinuation; University of Southampton Lecturer Dr Fatema Zaghloul draws on her current research to explore the emerging challenges and essential elements in developing and maintaining collaborative IT/IS projects across UK police forces.

POLICING FRIENDSHIP TOUR: While UK policing has faced major challenges as a result of COVID-19, the innovative ICT responses to the pandemic from police forces, government and the private sector have driven change that will deliver benefits for years to come, as VMware Chief Technology Officer Joseph Langford explained to Policing Insight Publisher Bernard Rix on a recent leg of the Policing Friendship Walking Tour.

POLICING FRIENDSHIP TOUR: Improving the ability of police IT software and systems to “talk to each other”, enhancing the recruitment process, and creating a “citizen-centric approach” to public contact were among the issues discussed by Simon Bradford, Salesforce’s Regional Vice-President for Public Sector UK, when he joined Policing Insight Publisher Bernard Rix on a recent leg of the Policing Friendship Walking Tour.

POLICING FRIENDSHIP TOUR: Policing could already benefit from the significant advances available in modern technology, according to Allan Fairley of Accenture UK – but he believes the real barriers to progress are politics and personal agendas, as he explained to Policing Insight Publisher Bernard Rix on a recent leg of the Policing Friendship Walking Tour.

Round-table: Representatives from UK policing, stakeholders and suppliers praised the “miracle job” done by the service in response to the pandemic, and urged police leaders and the Government to ensure the momentum of transformational IT change continues post-Covid, as they debated the key policing ICT issues at a round-table discussion organised by Policing Insight Events in association with Virgin Media Business.

INNOVATION: As delegates gather in Coventry for this week’s BAPCO public safety technology event, Simon Hall, CEO of police digital mobility platform PoliceBox, looks back at the predictions he was invited to make regarding police IT in 2006 – and the success stories, disappearing initiatives and surprise arrivals on the policing technology scene over the intervening 15 years.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Salesforce and Sopra Steria have worked together to provide an interoperable link between the market leading STORM Command and Control platform with the world's leading CRM. This partnership will enable data to be viewed, synchronised and reported on from a single screen and despatch officers, shifting engagement from incident lead to a citizen lead basis.

FEATURE: The challenges of interoperability and improving communication and information sharing between police systems have long been recognised by police officers and managers alike, and the subject was a key topic for discussion at this year’s Emergency Services Show; Graham Newman of police software specialists Clue reports on the interoperability debate, and how tech and policing are working closer together to deliver improvements.

OPINION: Until now, UK police IT systems have received much less attention from the public and the media than new technologies such as facial recognition and predictive policing, but recent problems have brought increased attention; Dr Katerina Hadjimatheou, Lecturer in Criminology and Ethics at the University of Essex, believes it’s time the spotlight was shone on the three big private technology companies behind these reportedly failing systems.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: BAPCO has announced the conference programme for its 2021 annual Conference & Exhibition, supported by media partner Policing Insight and taking place 12-13 October in Coventry, UK

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Registration has opened for Critical Communications World 2021, supported by media partner Policing Insight. The event is taking place at the IFEMA in Madrid, from November 3-5 this year.

FEATURE: Police call handling hit the headlines in the UK again this month, as chiefs warned daily 999 calls post-lockdown are at levels usually seen on New Year’s Eve, while the Prime Minister unveiled plans for league tables for 999 and 101 call answering times; growing demand, increasing complexity and public channel choice were key issues covered by CoPaCC’s Future Police Contact Management report (published earlier this year in partnership with Salesforce), with the following article from the report highlighting some of the main challenges.

ADVERTISEMENT INTERVIEW: With UK police preparing to handle rapidly growing volumes of digital, multichannel contact from the public, the benefits – both for citizens and forces – of installing integrated contact management and CRM platforms are increasingly obvious; Steve Norris, Police Market Director at Salesforce UK (a specified supplier under the recent framework) highlights the advantages of the latest contact technology in enabling forces to cope with demand and enhance the service to citizens.

INTERVIEW: As part of the process of compiling the recent CoPaCC Future Police Contact Management report produced in partnership with Salesforce, Policing Insight Editor Keith Potter spoke to PSNI ACC Alan Todd, the NPCC Lead for Contact Management, about the key issues facing policing in relation to public contact – from the increasingly complex nature of demand, to the growth of digital and expanding channel options, the continuing impact of the pandemic, and the long-term challenges and technological opportunities.

New report: With growing volumes of increasingly complex demand, police contact management was already facing significant challenges before the arrival of COVID-19; but a new report by CoPaCC highlights how forces have responded to more varied public channel choice, adopted and developed new technology, and adapted working practices and reporting structures to meet the challenges of both the increasing demand and the pandemic.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Many police agencies face the same or similar challenges when it comes to digital forensics. Too much data, too many devices and resource constraints. Harsh Behl highlights how the tools from AccessData®, an Exterro Company can bridge the gap between front-line officers and forensic technicians so that investigations, analysis and review can start sooner.

INNOVATION: The ‘ad-hoc development’ of technology and communications has compromised the law enforcement efforts of South Australia Police; but force CIO Hamish Cameron believes issuing mobile phones to all officers and staff will deliver a ‘step change in the technology’ for SAPOL, as Policing Insight Deputy Editor Sarah Gibbons reports.  

ANALYSIS: What are the benefits of mobile working? When Police Scotland rolled out devices to 11,000 officers, they called on an independent academic team to assess the results - which were overwhelmingly positive. Chief Inspector Martin Gallagher, Deputy Business Lead, outlines the project, alongside Professor Lesley Diack of Robert Gordon University and Dr. William Graham of Abertay University.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: As one of the UK's leading control room software experts, APD Communications has been working hard behind the scenes on developing new technologies to help against the fight of the ever-increasing demands experienced with the control room.

OPINION: Digital information is now all pervasive in society, and effective gathering and collating of that information as evidence is a challenge for policing; senior policing advisor Dr Steve Watts, a former chief officer in the UK, believes more forces could be reaping the benefits of digital evidence management systems.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: The disruptive events of 2020 present new pathways for public sector organisations to accelerate the progress they’ve already made in advancing their digital ambitions. But first they need to overcome legacy challenges to achieve a single view of their citizens and start small to harness innovation.

Insight: Cumbria’s use of Microsoft Teams has snowballed during the coronavirus pandemic and UK lockdown; Policing Insight Deputy Editor Sarah Gibbons looks at some of the innovative uses of the system, and how public engagement and officer satisfaction levels have benefited.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Policing in the UK is regarded as a benchmark for the rest of the world. So dealing effectively with evolving criminality and cybercrime, along with increasing complex digital evidence, is vital if the UK is to remain a beacon of excellence.