Police across the south west of England are going live with a ground breaking new system that has been designed to ensure the best possible sharing of intelligence across the region, according to Charter Systems, the UKs leading provider of effective source and covert authorities management software.
Police across Devon and Cornwall, Avon and Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire will be able to pool their intelligence resources into a single application that staff can access 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This is the first fully collaborative initiative of its kind and will act as a national pilot.
The total cost of the system has been around £1.1 million and the five forces are looking at making revenue savings of approximately £380,000 with costs being shared across the region and additional funding coming from the Home office.
When work on the project began, four of the five forces had standalone databases from Charter Systems for managing intelligence management authorities such as mobile phone data requests. However, after a rigorous procurement process, the police forces concerned decided to stay with Charter Systems and introduce a shared version of the system for all five forces. It has also migrated the four existing Oracle databases on a shared central database that incorporates some force-only access for some data.
The benefits of the new system will be both financial and operational, with huge cost savings in terms of reducing paper work, duplication of effort and the reduction of staff required to support 24 hour activity following the introduction of a central repository for all RIPA (Regulation of the Investigatory Powers Act) based authorities and covert operations and surveillance carried out across the south west region.
Working together will improve and standardise processes that include better intelligence management, Technical Surveillance Unit management and quicker authorisations. In addition, it will provide the opportunity to share best practice across the region, develop intelligence opportunities (particularly in complex surveillance operations), and maximise opportunities for future collaboration in terms of covert policing.
Assistant Chief Constable Mike Glanville from Dorset Police who led the project says:
The first priority was looking to improve our operational capability. Operating in separate forces, the big challenge across the region has always been how can we work closely together, particularly in the area of organised crime. Collaboration between different forces is increasingly recognised as the only way we can deliver more for less. Our strategic partnership with Charter Systems will enable the forces of the south west region to benefit from a first of its kind collaborative initiative, setting the precedent for more collaborative approaches to policing.
Detective Superintendant Paul Burgan from Devon and Cornwall Police, the senior operational user of the new system and the individual responsible for its implementation said: Apart from the obvious cost savings and corporate benefits the introduction of an integrated system brings, the collaboration will dramatically improve the operational potential to target cross border criminals particularly in drug trafficking and organised crime. This joined up way of working not only improves our internal processes, but will improve our ability to target organised crime, improve our cross border links, and ultimately improve our service delivery to the public.
The project, has already attracted positive attention from other forces across the country that are seeking to reduce costs whilst maintaining and improving their standards and their processes.
Information source
http://www.guardian....ligence-sharing
http://www.computerw...tral-repository
Edited by HugoMinchinCS, 09 July 2012 - 01:52 PM.
Quoteable source links added and private company links removed
