44 | ESTICT
Police ICT Company gets green light Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) across England and Wales have recently given their seal of approval to establish a national Police ICT Company for the first time. The move could realise savings in excess of £150m per year on the current total police IT spend of approximately £1bn, as well as help improve crucial information flow between criminal justice agencies. The Police ICT Company will be owned by Police and Crime Commissioners, but membership will be open to other policing governance bodies, as well as other public bodies and agencies with an interest in securing efficient and effective police services. Its main aim is simple: unlock savings by supporting forces to make the best use of technology and to deliver truly joined-up policing.
“We want to ensure that technology can support the delivery of efficient and effective policing.” National systems and services The savings will come from various areas – some can be achieved relatively quickly and others over a longer timescale, but they involve rationalising technologies, improving procurement and enabling business change. The company will ultimately provide a platform for the coordination and commissioning of national systems and services. APCC Chairman and Essex Police and Crime Commissioner Nick Alston has led this work, together with Stephen Greenhalgh (Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, London), Alun Michael (South Wales PCC), Martin Surl (Gloucestershire PCC) and Millie Banerjee
(Chair of the British Transport Police Authority). The PCCs formed a Board to review the requirements before putting their proposal to their general meeting in early February. Nick said, “The national Police ICT Company will create a much more commercially driven and strategic approach, supporting forces as they acquire and make the best possible use of technology. This is not about imposing a ‘one size fits all’ solution, but rather an agreed approach, which will enable the efficient development of new systems, in particular ensuring the effective flow of information between forces. It’s also essential that information can be shared not only with criminal justice agencies but also those other local partners with whom the police work to keep people safe. “Nationally, more than a billion pounds is spent on police IT every year and some companies are selling the same products many times to different police forces. This is inefficient and expensive. More importantly, opportunities to share information effectively are being missed. Criminals do not respect police boundaries, and police technology must enable critical information to flow seamlessly from force to force. “PCCs are bringing a clearer focus to the challenge and I am therefore delighted to be driving this work forward with my colleagues. This is long-term work. We want to ensure that technology can support the delivery of efficient and effective policing. The establishment of the company is a major step and I look forward to it becoming operational.” Although the company is not yet operational, the final plans for launching the company are nearing completion. Recruitment of key staff is now underway, ready to start
work as soon after the end of April as possible. If an application to the Home Office Innovation Fund is successful, the costs of establishing the company will be met by that funding. If the Innovation Fund bid is unsuccessful, Police and Crime Commissioners have agreed that the costs will be borne by those PCCs wishing to join the company. A vote by PCCs on 3 February confirmed that PCCs believe, given the scale of the savings that can be achieved longer term, this is a prudent investment.
Greater collaboration Company functions will include providing an overarching IT strategy to help law enforcement agencies and other partners work together effectively through the use of technology; commissioning the delivery of national police ICT requirements; enabling greater collaboration, integration and harmonisation between ICT systems; securing value for money; providing a centre of knowledge and expertise in relation to ICT; encouraging innovation, supporting the delivery of digital capabilities and identifying opportunities for collaboration and shared learning.
Open to other agencies Members of the Police ICT Board include the three PCCs, British Transport Police Authority, Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime in London, the Cambridgeshire and Durham chief constables, the Home Office and the College of Policing. Membership of the company is open to other agencies with an interest in efficient and effective police services.
http://apccs.police.uk
Terrafix Aggregator pushes mobile data boundaries Terrafix continues its pedigree of developing advanced and innovative technologies, which help to meet the growing mobile data needs of its customers. Designed, developed and manufactured by Terrafix, the Terrafix Aggregator (T.AGG) is a vehicle based communications management hub with integrated GPS. It accesses up to four cellular networks for broadband data communications plus an option to interface to any other communications system such as satellite or point to point radio, supplying optimal data aggregation, coverage and bandwidth in the most challenging environments. Coupled with built-in dual Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, the T.AGG will provide a powerful facility to stream high data dependant applications to any mobile device. Remote working is becoming a normal and expected part of any business. This has always been the case in the emergency services but the geography and mobile communications architecture have been limiting factors.
www.emergencyservicestimes.com
Using the T.AGG to provide a diverse and optimised data path opens the door to the visions of the user communities making ideas a reality; ideas such as Telehealth, mobile consulting rooms, PNC, ANPR checks, video streaming, distance experts used in mission critical situations are all now possible. The applications for a remote guaranteed broadband facility are limitless.
Telehealth programme In January 2015 Terrafix successfully secured a contract with the Scottish Ambulance Service to provide the T.AGG as part of a full mobile data vehicle hardware replacement. It is the first step in Scottish Ambulance Service’s Telehealth programme and their strategic framework, ‘Towards 2020: Taking Care to the Patient’ (see page 7). The Terrafix solution procured will utilise the T.AGG for all in-vehicle communications with two Getac T800s, one for use in the front of the vehicle for mobilisation and routing and the other is positioned in
the rear of the vehicle, but remains portable to be utilised as a method of recording Electronic Patient Report Forms. Terrafix is now looking at potential markets around the world where the communications infrastructure is limited and where a T.AGG will offer a way of broadening a customer’s footprint by providing a resilient, diverse and secure mobile broadband facility.
http://terrafix.co.uk
April 2015