BAPCO Journal - December 2018

www.bapco.org.uk |

@BritishAPCO

ÂŁ5.00 | December 2018 | Vol 24 Issue No 4

Connecting, Networking and Informing

10

Top of the hill

The Welsh Ambulance Service discusses ESN and extended area coverage

16

Victim-centred

The National Centre for Cyberstalking Research talks about its new app

22

Connect to protect Mid and West Wales FRS is using comms technology to create the Internet of PPE

34

What if...

The use of cutting-edge solutions to mitigate a largescale chemical attack

Eyes on the prize: The future of ESN becomes increasingly clear

telent has a long standing track record in delivering vehicle, control room and mission critical ICT technology solutions to the Emergency Services across the UK & Ireland.

• ICT Managed Services

• ESN Transition Services

• Digital Asset & Evidence Management Systems

• ANPR Installation, Support & Maintenance

• Vehicle Installation & Connectivity Services

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT telent www.telent.com

• Control Room Solutions & Services

0800 783 7761

talktotelent@telent.com

CONTENTS

Commissioning editor: Philip Mason philip.mason@markallengroup.com Tel: +44 (0)20 3874 9216

Sales manager: Andy Bird

andrew.bird@markallengroup.com Tel: +44 (0)20 7501 6672

Managing editor: Sam Fenwick sam.fenwick@markallengroup.com Tel: +44 (0)20 7501 6772

Graphic designer: Kyri Apostolou

kyri.apostolou@markallengroup.com Tel: +44 (0)20 7501 6779

Sub-editor: Chris Young Production director: Richard Hamshere Publisher: Paul Johnson Managing director: Jon Benson Chief executive officer: Ben Allen

BAPCO Directors President: John Anthony MBE john.anthony@bapco.org.uk

Vice President: Andy Rooke andy.rooke@bapco.org.uk

Cover story 30 4 President’s address John Anthony looks back on the recent BAPCO event in Newcastle 6 News round up and analysis Partners chosen for major UK police IT project; Airwave handset contract winners announced 10 A welcome in the hillsides The Welsh Ambulance Service’s Tony Bracey discusses the complications with ESN

8

16 Victim-centred The National Centre for Cyberstalking Research’s Emma Short tells us about an app that enables online crime victims to upload evidence 22 Out with the old

Vice President: Chris Lucas chris.lucas@bapco.org.uk

Chief Executive: Ian Thompson ian.thompson@bapco.org.uk

Views expressed in this magazine do not necessarily represent those of the editor or publisher. The publisher can accept no liability for any consequential loss or damage, howsoever caused, arising from any information printed.

The BAPCO Journal is delivered to members using bags made of recyclable plastic.

Cover credit: Adobe Stock/Jane

Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service discusses its digital comms programme

26 Opportunities and issues Tait UK and Ireland business development manager Richard Russell discusses the future of the sector 28 Heads in the cloud

The CEO of RapidDeploy discusses the changing face of the control room market

30 BAPCO Newcastle review

At the latest BAPCO Satellite Series event visitors received an update on the recent ESN ‘relaunch’

28

32 Due north BAPCO vice-president Chris Lucas reports from the APCO Canada Conference & Tradeshow 34 Responding to a chemical attack

Kate O’Flaherty reports on the likely response to chemical or biological attacks in urban areas

38 That is the question Comment from chief executive Ian Thompson The BAPCO Journal is published by MA Business Ltd, St. Jude’s Church, Dulwich Road, London, SE24 0PB, UK. Tel: +44 (0)20 7738 5454 Website: www.bapco.org.uk

Twitter: @BritishAPCO | www.bapco.org.uk | December 2018

©2018 MA Business Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of BAPCO Journal may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior written permission of the publishing director.

32 Please read our privacy policy, by visiting http://privacypolicy.markallengroup.com.

This will explain how we process, use & safeguard your data ISSN 1352-2701 Printed by Pensord Press Ltd, Blackwood, NP12 2YA

3

PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS

Goodbye Newcastle, hello Coventry

BAPCO president John Anthony looks back at the organisation’s November satellite series event, and forward to BAPCO 2019 next March

British APCO is where active members of our public safety community exchange and advise on all critical communications subjects. British APCO participates strongly in the global alliance of APCO International.

British APCO’s aims include solving real-time critical communications problems, participating in research programmes (eg EU projects), showcasing technologies, and lobbying on issues such as spectrum and harmonisation.

British APCO holds an annual exhibition and development event, many regional events as well as training sessions, and is respected as the UK’s (and Europe’s) leading – and only – forum of knowledge exchange and transfer specific to communications in public safety.

To find out more details on how to contribute to and draw on this vibrant community by becoming a member, telephone 03303 327173 or email support@bapco.org.uk For more information visit www.bapco.org.uk

I

write this while reflecting on our satellite event, that we held in Newcastle in November. For various reasons I was unable to attend for the past two years so I was particularly interested to see how the whole event worked.

With that in mind, I was so pleased to be opening the proceedings to a standing-roomonly audience, and even more pleased to be saying my closing remarks to a room that was still half full despite the call of the trains!

I have to thank all of our sponsors for supporting us, as well as our speakers. It is after all the quality and topical interest of the presentations during the conference sessions that “There was always make attendance essential for all those in the sector. a great buzz in the I was also very impressed with the exhibition area and it was great to see how vibrant it was. There room across both was always a great buzz in the room across both days, and going days, and going by the feedback that I’ve received, by the feedback it was considered to be a resounding success by all who attended.

I’ve received it You will have already received messages letting was considered to you know that registration is open for our major be a resounding event, BAPCO 2019, which takes place on 1213 March at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry. We success” are already looking at this being our largest event ever in terms of exhibition space taken, and as we are holding it in conjunction with Critical Communications Europe, we are expecting a far greater number of visitors.

We anticipate that these will not just be from the UK, but also Europe and even further afield, including for the first time for many years a contingent of our colleagues representing Canadian ACPO, to whom I look forward to extending a warm welcome.

I hope you have visited the show website and seen for yourself the two great conference streams that we have lined up. We have a diverse range of speakers from around the world bringing you the latest information and innovations impacting our sector. If you haven’t already booked your accommodation, I recommend that you do so soon as demand for rooms situated locally is expected to be high.

Finally, if you did attend the Newcastle event, please do provide us with your feedback. If there is any subject area that you would like us to cover at future events, please do let us know and we will try and deliver what you, our members, want.

John Anthony, MBE President, BAPCO 4

Twitter: @BritishAPCO | www.bapco.org.uk | December 2018

Mobile technology that lets you get on with the job

When your officers are on the frontline, going back to base to access systems or check facts isn’t a practical option.

They need intelligence at their fingertips.

The Samsung Galaxy Note9 with Samsung Knox defence-grade security is the answer.

It connects your officers to the real-time information they need—and they can use the refined S-Pen to sign witness statements.

Discover the Samsung Galaxy Note9 samsung.com/uk/business

INDUSTRY NEWS

Delivery partners chosen for major UK police IT project Deloitte and BT have been confirmed as suppliers for the UK police National Enabling Programme (NEP), as well as the burgeoning police National Management Centre (NMC).

Deloitte has been selected as the ‘client delivery partner’, providing a range of services to assist forces in adopting what a joint statement refers to as “the productivity services cloud platform”.

It and BT will also create “monitoring capability” across the country, meanwhile, via the establishment of the NMC. The two programmes are intended to help police and crime commissioners “buy, manage and exploit” information technology more effectively than they are currently able to. The National Enabling Programme – which will see investment of around £100m – in particular is aimed at introducing greater consistency across force IT systems. This will include not only cloud-based services using Microsoft Azure, but also “improved cyber security technologies”, along with nationally implemented standards.

Speaking of the programmes, a spokesperson said: “This digital transformation will allow police forces across the country to collaborate

more effectively, better engage with citizens and protect sensitive data from rising levels of cybercrime.

“By using the latest technology, aligned to a national risk framework to improve the efficiency of their operations, forces will become more effective to public safety needs while meeting the demands of their agile workforce, and all at a reduced overall cost.”

Speaking of the development, Wayne Parkes, NEP programme director, said: “The NEP is a key enabling tool that will deliver a foundational change within policing as we exploit new ICT resources in a unified way across our forces. This ‘joined up thinking’ will facilitate a radical change in both what the police do and how the public interact with us.”

Ian Dyson, commissioner of the City of London Police, said: “During 2017 and

2018, the NEP team has worked very successfully with a handful of forces to trial the implementation of these new technologies and business models.

“Now with the delivery partners onboard, we can begin the planned rollout to deliver and embed these changes across forces.”

The NEP underpins a new digital policing policy outlined in The Policing Vision 2025, which is a comprehensive policy review document published by the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners and the National Police Chiefs’ Council.

Control Room Awards return for second year, announces APD APD has announced that its Control Room Awards will be returning for a second year.

According to the company, the event – which is the only one of its kind in the UK – celebrates the “extraordinary and selfless contribution to the public, and society as a whole, of people working in control rooms for the police, fire, ambulance and emergency rescue services, as well as the aviation and transportation sectors”.

Last year’s winners included

6

London Fire Brigade’s Two Watch control room team for their response to the Grenfell Tower disaster, and David (Edd) Redwood, of Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service, who helped save the life of an elderly woman trapped in rapidly rising floodwater.

Speaking of the awards, APD managing director Mike Isherwood said: “Because of our work providing technology that supports and connects emergency services organisations and their control

rooms, we’re very well aware of the amazing work of staff in these operations.

“However, because their work is behind the scenes, it is largely unseen and sometimes under-appreciated. That’s why we felt there was a need to recognise and celebrate outstanding performance and achievement in critical control rooms the length and breadth of the country.”

He continued: “For us there was no question that the awards needed to return

and become an annual event.

We’re thrilled to launch the 2019 awards and we’re urging organisations and individuals in the critical control rooms community to give them their fullest support and participation.”

Entries for the 2019 awards – which will take place on 7 March next year at the De Vere Orchard Hotel in Nottingham – are now open. As with the first awards, Telent Technology Services will be the Platinum Partner for the event.

December 2018 | www.bapco.org.uk | Twitter: @BritishAPCO

INDUSTRY NEWS

Adobe Stock/Daniel Prudek

In other news

Lincolnshire to roll out cloud-based control room Motorola Solutions has won a 10-year, £6m contract to provide Lincolnshire Police with the UK’s first cloud-based integrated control room solution, known as CommandCentral. The contract was awarded by G4S. According to Motorola, the platform is “highly scalable”, integrating multiple control room functions, including an integrated communications control system (ICCS), contact management, computeraided dispatch (CAD), as well as mapping and call logging.

The company claims that Lincolnshire Police, through the use of the platform, will benefit from a “continuous workflow experience”. This includes being able to handle calls faster, make more informed decisions, allocate resources more efficiently, as well as co-ordinate with other public safety organisations.

According to Lincolnshire chief constable Bill Skelly, the solution was chosen because of the sheer size of the force area (2,500 square miles), which requires a ‘dispersed’ model of policing. It

will be employed in conjunction with the force’s recent roll-out of smart devices, on which Lincolnshire is already using mobile workforce solution Pronto (see the BAPCO Journal, October 2018).

Speaking of the timescale, David Robinson, business development manager at Motorola, said there will be a phased approach to the introduction of the new control room solution, and that the timing is dependent on when “existing functionality rolls off from Lincolnshire’s perspective”. He added that the first task will be to replace the existing ICCS with the new cloud-based technology in February 2019.

Phase two, meanwhile, will be the introduction of the integrated customer relationship management (CRM) module, which will take place towards the middle of next year, while the winter will see the implementation of the CAD element.

Robinson added that these three phases will together replace three existing ‘siloed’ core operating systems, resulting in a “single coherent whole”.

Scaling the summit with Embrace CVoC BAPCO charity partner Embrace Child Victims of Crime (CVoC) is asking for volunteers to be part of a trek to Everest Base Camp, taking place next year.

Speaking of the challenge, a spokesperson for the organisation said: “The search is on for daredevil fundraisers to take part in the ultimate personal challenge – a trek to Everest Base Camp.

“Escorted by your Sherpa guides, the Embrace Child Victims of Crime charity expedition will traverse the most amazing scenery that Nepal has to offer and, of course, the world’s highest mountain will be in your sights.”

Trek dates are 2-21 November 2019, and costs will be in the region of £2,500 (plus flights). To register your interest and for further information, please contact: anne@embracecvoc.org.uk.

The trek follows on from another major effort on the part of the charity, in the form of its Dear Santa Christmas appeal. This saw Embrace asking supporters to donate presents to children whose lives have been affected by criminality.

Big win for firefighter solution GlobalView Systems has won the Federation of Communication Services (FCS) 2018 Gerald David Award for Innovation in Business Radio, for its RETAIN Solution.

The award was presented at the Business Radio Gala Dinner, which took place in November near Droitwich, following the organisation’s conference.

RETAIN is described by the FCS as

a ‘notification solution’ which aims to increase firefighter retention, while at the same time improving operational readiness. It provides a full availability schedule overview – also taking skills into account – while providing strategic alert notification.

Speaking of the award, the FCS’s Tim Cull said: “Gerald David (OBE) proposed that it would be advantageous

Twitter: @BritishAPCO | www.bapco.org.uk | December 2018

if a tangible benefit to innovators was available, encouraging a specific focus on innovation within the industry. The award came into being in 2004, and recognises the most innovative company in the UK within the business radio industry.”

As well as GlobalView, the award shortlist included ICOM (UK) for its LTE radio system solution, and Motorola Solutions’ MOTOTRBO Link.

7

NEWS EXTRA

Airwave handset contract winners announced The journey towards the Emergency Services Network continues, with news about interim TETRA devices, coverage testing and air-to-ground

T

he Police ICT Company has awarded its national Airwave terminal procurement framework contract to Motorola Solutions and Sepura.

The framework is designed to offer a centrally managed solution which, according to the Police ICT Company, will “free forces of the burden of individually letting and re-letting standalone Public Contract Regulation compliant contracts”.

Speaking of the announcement, Police ICT Company CEO Ian Bell said: “The framework ensures full price transparency and lowest cost across the supply chain over the course of the framework agreement.

“In addition to the clear and immediate benefits of significant efficiencies and discounts to forces, the fact that the Police ICT Company will manage the contract with Motorola and Sepura on their behalf will help streamline governance, reduce collective contract management burden and drive commonality.”

Fergus Mayne, Motorola Solutions sales director for the UK and Ireland, said: “We are pleased to be part of the National Airwave Terminal Framework contract with the Police ICT Company to provide police forces with a very competitive offering

100

ESN Assure-equipped devices deployed

8

of a wide range of devices and solutions for their mission-critical communications needs, including handheld, mobile and covert digital radio terminal options.”

Sepura’s UK sales director Gary Maughan said: “We recognise that TETRA is the leading truly open standard for mission-critical communications.

TETRA has continued to evolve and Sepura is focused on delivering state-of-theart devices and compelling applications.

“We acknowledge significant value in the Police ICT Company’s successful establishment of a procurement framework for users to refresh their Airwave radios. This will enable customers to deploy innovative solutions today while also helping forces prepare for ESN in the future.”

Police forces will need Airwave for several more years, following the recent announcement that the UKwide broadband public safety communications project, the Emergency Services Network, will not be able to provide mission-critical push-to-talk in the immediate future.

The contract to provide the aforementioned TETRA-based solution has been extended until 2022.

In related news, ESMCP has started testing network

Police ICT Company CEO Ian Bell

coverage, using its recently announced solution ESN Assure. The first phase of testing began across England and Wales, using an initial roll-out of 100 mobile devices issued to a variety of different emergency services staff. Assure is an app-based product, developed by Telent and specifically designed to test broadband signal coverage.

Speaking of the latest phase of ESN, a Home Office spokesperson said: “Services staff in the NorthEast, South-West, the West Midlands and Wales will now test the new 4G mobile network, provided by EE, from a variety of locations in their areas and feed back the results. Their reports will inform how coverage can be further improved before the programme moves onto the next stage of delivery.”

Lastly, ESMCP has also published an invitation to tender for the air-to-ground component of ESN. The procurement seeks

to establish a framework agreement valued at £100m.

It will be used by both ESMCP and user organisations to procure products and services from a single supplier for a period of 10 years. There will also be an option for a fiveyear extension.

The successful party will be required to provide 66 devices – potentially rising to 103 – consisting of a radio and control unit that will enable communication via ESN up to an altitude of 10,000 feet.

The deadline for submission of tenders or requests to participate is March of next year. The contract will be awarded by the end of June 2019.

For more on the Emergency Services Network, see the BAPCO conference report on page 30.

10

The number of years the A2G contract will last

December 2018 | www.bapco.org.uk | Twitter: @BritishAPCO

Embracing a multimedia control room The world is changing; becoming more virtual and integrated through software-driven communications solutions and social media.

The next generation control room must be able to manage and respond to all kinds of communication paths to increase the flexibility and ease of use for both operators and public emergency contact, while reducing emergency response times.

The presentation of multi-channel communications needs to be mobile, flexible, practical, secure, robust and reliable, situational aware and capable of supporting all types of media.

The answer? Frequentis’ 3020 LifeX seamlessly handles multimedia information, in any form, feeding it out to the operator as a single communication stack.

It’s about more than just voice.

www.frequentis.com

Adobe stock/Sebastian

EMERGENCY SERVICES NETWORK

10

December 2018 | www.bapco.org.uk | Twitter: @BritishAPCO

EMERGENCY SERVICES NETWORK

A welcome in the hillsides Philip Mason talks to ESMCP programme director for the Welsh Ambulance Service Tony Bracey about why the complications with ESN have been simultaneously disruptive and beneficial When did you begin your preparations for the roll-out of the Emergency Services Network in Wales? Are you approaching it differently from the rest of the UK from a strategic point of view?

We’ve been talking about the ESN as a region from the beginning, going back to the point at which the project was announced, and probably even before in terms of looking at mission-critical broadband.

Regarding our organisational structure, we are slightly different from the rest of the UK in that our ESN-specific regional planning effort reflects our pre-existing strategic multi-agency presence, in the form of our Joint Emergency Services Group (JESG).

The JESG is made up of the heads of all the emergency services and resilience organisations across Wales, as well as government and the military, and essentially steers any kind of multi-agency initiative. It allows us to make decisions incredibly quickly at a senior level, while also having the ability to report up on a regular basis. There’s a hierarchy of decision-makers within it, including myself as well as Michelle Williams, who’s the JESG programme manager and ESN business change lead.

Regarding ESN, we work as part of the national programme, but the ultimate decision to go live in Wales will lay with the Joint Emergency Services Group, which also means that we avoid any kind of fragmented delivery. All the emergency services are completely equal within the group, and when the time comes and the project is rolled out, we’ll all go together simultaneously.

Does that structure ever create complications, for instance in regard to different agencies following their own agendas in relation to individual budgets and so on?

While we all work together very well, that doesn’t mean that if there’s a good argument for pursuing a particular course of action we won’t consider it. Looking at something like incremental delivery, particularly as it relates to the ongoing Ambulance Radio Programme (ARP), there may be a case for going earlier based upon the products involved and how we use them. That will ultimately be a decision for the group, though.

With that in mind, what do you predict the decision will be when it comes to ‘data first’ in relation to Wales as a whole?

Honestly, I think it will be very limited in Wales purely because of coverage issues. The fact that the delivery of extended area services has ultimately moved so far to the right really precludes any benefit over and above what we’ve already got on our existing mobile network operator contracts.

Twitter: @BritishAPCO | www.bapco.org.uk | December 2018

11

EMERGENCY SERVICES NETWORK

Coming back to the ambulance service, again, the implementation of our new ARP-procured control room solution in 2019 which replaces our ICCS [BAPCO Journal, December 2017] gives us the opportunity to look seriously at data transfer and so on. However, until we get assurance on ESN coverage, we’re bound by our relationship with our existing broadband supplier as well as operational concerns around the need for mission-critical data in the first place.

That may also prove to be the case with other organisations around the UK, something which itself could have implications for the programme in the long term. The roll-out of ESN is a very different challenge from that of Airwave 10 years ago, one reason for which – particularly now that incremental delivery is in the conversation – is the presence of potentially competing MNOs.

How disruptive have the ongoing delays to the network been in regard to the planning that had already taken place?

Disruptive is not quite the word I’d use, because we’d already been quite pragmatic in terms of our deployment of resources. For instance, we haven’t appointed on a massive scale – in fact, in Wales we have only appointed a small number of ESN-specific resources.

This has meant we’ve been able to remain quite agile in terms of the workforce. Most people currently working on ESN across the services are doing it as part of their other duties.

Another benefit of the Joint Emergency Services Group is that everyone involved as part of the current ESN team are already experienced change managers within their own organisations. That’s provided a huge amount of understanding regarding the roll-out of large government projects and, let’s be honest, the likelihood of delay.

When will you start to appoint?

We’ll make additional resources available when the position with the programme becomes clearer. We obviously have a resourcing plan, but we’ll only employ new people once the stated deliverables start to look achievable.

In terms of the Welsh Ambulance Service, we’ve actively started to consult with different people around the organisation about what they want our future operating model to look like, which we are aligning with what we expect the network will eventually be able to give us. We’ve talked with emergency response staff themselves, as well as the HART [hazardous area response team] and non-emergency patient transport, specifically about the opportunity to digitise more.

One topic we’ve looked at in particular has been the need for mobile data terminals (MDTs) once the system is rolled out, given that a lot of the functionality will be available via a handheld device. That in turn begs the question, how can we make sure those handhelds enhance our operations in a positive way?

We’ve also been exploring the deployment of what we’re calling the ‘connected ambulance’ as a kind of communications hub linked with the clinical contact centre, the emergency department, and other agencies.

In the future, we want to be able to live-stream straight to the clinical practitioner from the paramedics or other ambulance personnel. If we can incorporate electronic patient records and telematics – as well as digitising information from things like defibrillators – that also has the potential to be truly game-changing.

How does the system work currently, particularly in regards to the ambulance service’s use of data?

Data is currently provided from the clinical contact centre to the ambulance, through the use of the MDT. Extended area ESN coverage continues to be a user concern

Have the delays made it difficult to plan in terms of the technology itself? What about handsets?

Regarding devices, it’s a bit of a mix and match across the region in terms of how we move forward. For instance, there’s less urgency with the Welsh Ambulance Service since we were already one of the last to be issued with Airwave handsets, and ours take less of a battering than they might with other organisations. We’re in a far more comfortable position than the police, for instance.

That being the case, we have made ourselves fully aware of where each organisation sits when it comes to device shelf life and when the need for replacements will become an issue. Depending on the speed of roll-out, we’ve already identified the pinch points and the costs.

Have the changes to the programme been beneficial in any way?

They have. For instance, I believe that the delays have given us the opportunity for us to critically look at how we do business, and also how the technology fits into that going forward. As much as anything else, it’s avoided the possibility of ESN simply being used as a refresh of what we’ve already got, which always could have been a potential issue.

12

December 2018 | www.bapco.org.uk | Twitter: @BritishAPCO

7 MARCH 2019 DE VERE ORCHARD HOTEL, NOTTINGHAM, UK.

DO YOU KNOW A CONTROL ROOM HERO? CONTROL ROOM AWARDS 2019 NOMINATIONS NOW OPEN

WANT TO NOMINATE A HERO OF THE CONTROL ROOM? VISIT THE WEBSITE: CONTROLROOMAWARDS.COM/NOMINATE

ENTRIES CLOSE 11 JANUARY 2019

#UNSUNGHEROES

controlroomawards.com

EMERGENCY SERVICES NETWORK

What we want is for the information which is being collected by clinical equipment to also be available straight away at the point of dispatch, as well as updated instantaneously over the course of an incident.

For data that isn’t necessarily mission-critical, that is, which doesn’t have to be available in real time, we see no reason why ambulances shouldn’t be able to download/upload automatically once they arrive at the hospital, via Wi-Fi. That would allow more time to be spent on the patient, rather than dealing with data transfer.

Are you confident in the Emergency Services Network as a project? Do you have any residual concerns?

We’re confident in regard to what it will eventually be able to do, such as the connected ambulance that I spoke about before. That will fundamentally change the nature of the job, and we’re hugely excited about it.

Having said that, we’re still yet to be convinced about the extended area coverage piece, which is incredibly important in Wales as well as other places around the UK. We are concerned that the ongoing costs and escalating delays will mean that the responsibility – including cost and risk – could be ultimately passed onto the user.

Why would the cost be passed on, do you think?

Essentially, we can see potential issues around the difference between required cover and contracted cover. Under the terms of the contract, the Emergency Services Network is required to replicate the level of service currently available with Airwave. Obviously that’s fine, but it still leaves us with significant areas with no signal which are now more populated than they were when the TETRA system was first rolled out.

One of these kinds of areas is a stretch of land along the Gower

coast containing a large campsite, but with no TETRA or broadband signal at all. At the minute, if we wanted coverage – which we do – the programme could, quite rightly, say it’s as good as we’ve got now. Obviously, until we’ve finished the Assure process, we won’t be sure, but it’s still something which needs to be discussed.

I don’t think there are many concerns around normal coverage at this stage.

Given everything that’s happened so far, and the challenges still to be overcome, are you optimistic about the future of the project?

We are, but as I mentioned, it’s down to us to plan for and utilise the opportunities that are going to be presented to us by the network. That in turn should provide us with much more effective ways of engaging with each other and with the public during incidents.

That could be in relation to the technology we’ve already discussed, or something like Skype or FaceTime, which the public and business are already using on a daily basis as we speak.

The other big benefit will be around the anticipated improvement in situational awareness provided by the network. That will not only ensure that those on the front line are more effective and safer, but also that resources can be deployed more efficiently out of the clinical contact centre.

The Emergency Services Network will mark a stepchange in how we do business. It might be hard work, but that doesn’t mean it’s not exciting or worthwhile.

Adobe stock/Kevin Eaves

Wales contains a variety of contrasting, and often challenging, landscapes

14

December 2018 | www.bapco.org.uk | Twitter: @BritishAPCO

HexagonSafetyInfrastructure.com

INTERGRAPH® ONCALL Trusted Command and Control solution Hexagon’s solutions help Public Safety agencies protect some of the world’s largest cities. From Agra in India to Zurich in Switzerland; in Berlin, Brussels, New York, Toronto and many other global cities, over a million incidents a day are managed worldwide. Major events are protected with the assurance of our comprehensive security planning capabilities.

Hexagon earns our customers trust every day.

Join us at the BAPCO Conference and Exhibition, Coventry, 12-13 March, 2019 More details at: hexagonsi.com/events ©2018 Intergraph Corporation d/b/a Hexagon Safety & Infrastructure.

Hexagon Safety & Infrastructure is part of Hexagon. All rights reserved.

Tel: 01793 619999 - Enquiries: hexagonsafetyinfrastructure.com/contact-us

BRITISH

APCO A

PLATINUM MEMBER 2018

Adobe Stock/Mr Korn Flakes

FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE

16

December 2018 | www.bapco.org.uk | Twitter: @BritishAPCO

COLLABORATIVE WORKING

Making sure the victim is at the centre

The BAPCO Journal’s Philip Mason talks to National Centre for Cyberstalking Research director Emma Short about a recently developed app enabling victims of online crime to upload evidence straight to the police

A

s anyone who has kept an eye on the news in the past few years will know, there has been a massive recent increase in cases of the law being broken in the online space – a phenomenon otherwise known as cybercrime.

While this hasn’t, unfortunately, also signalled a corresponding fall in the number of incidents taking place outside of the virtual realm, it has nonetheless required that the police start to redefine the very notion of crime itself, and ‘volume crime’ in particular. Hence – without wanting to state the blindingly obvious – the bringing into existence of the National Cyber Crime Unit, as operated by the National Crime Agency (NCA). Hence too observations such as those made in this year’s NCA National and Strategic Assessment of Serious and Organised Crime that “UK cybercrime continues to rise in scale and complexity”.

When it comes to cybercrime, the focus of attention is invariably, and probably quite rightly, that which takes place in the economic space. The perpetration of fraud is by no means the only way to make life a misery online, however, with the anonymity afforded by social media apps, private messaging platforms and so on facilitating wholly new ways to violate someone’s personal life without criminals even having to leave the house.

This is something which has been labelled ‘cyberstalking’ and – if the accounts of those who have suffered it are to be believed – it is deeply insidious and traumatic.

No risk assessment

As indicated, the operational parameters of what constitutes economic crime have been well and truly redrawn over the past few years, in the light of such charming innovations as phishing, denial of service, ‘man in the middle’ attacks and so on. The same probably can’t be said for procedures around harassment as it relates to online stalking, however, not because of a lack of interest on the part of the criminal justice system so much as it being such an incredibly tricky crime to prosecute (and, to a degree, even conceptualise).

With that in mind, a team from the University of Bedfordshire has recently developed an app (known as CybHAPP) specifically designed to help the police collect evidence, straight – with their knowledge and permission – from the devices of those claiming to be the victim of online stalking. Supported by the Police Innovation Fund to the tune of

Twitter: @BritishAPCO | www.bapco.org.uk | December 2018

17

COLLABORATIVE WORKING

"Cyberstalkers have been known to resort to asymmetrical tactics such as malicious websites and blogs, and hacking their victim’s social media" a million pounds over two years, the project worked with several forces to ascertain the landscape from an operational perspective.

Speaking of the origins of the solution, the university’s National Centre for Cyberstalking Research director (and reader in cyberpsychology), Emma Short, says: “The project came about, essentially, from talking to the police and realising that cyber harassment and stalking weren’t necessarily being dealt with in the best possible way within the forces themselves.

“We carried out a review in the first instance, initially in Bedfordshire, which eventually went out to three other forces – Hampshire, Greater Manchester and South Wales. We looked at a range of areas, including case management, procedures and so on, to get an overall picture of what was going on across the respective regions.”

She continues: “Once the feedback from those organisations had come back, we started to look at developing a variety of different things, including the mobile app itself, as well as a case management system and a new risk-assessment tool specifically designed for people being stalked online.

“Regarding the latter, there’s currently no procedure that exists for risk-assessing someone who’s being harassed by an anonymous party, which is often the case when stalking takes place online. The police can use the DASH [domestic abuse, stalking and honourbased violence] checklist when dealing with cyber, but there’s nothing specifically catering for the crime area which we’ve been focused on. The really scary part of online stalking is that the

unknowns aren’t currently being risk-assessed at all.”

Going back to the subject of the app itself, according to Short the solution was developed inhouse by the university with the specific intention of making it as straightforward as possible for the victim to use. This involves, once the crime has been reported, the user being given a unique number by the police, which is then keyed into their phone.

This in turn enables the app, via the cloud, to upload ‘virtual’ evidence (for instance, threatening messages or images) directly to the authorities for later use in a prosecution, all without the victim having to turn their phone in for examination.

Short also mentions that originally the idea of recording calls was floated, as well as being able to identify from where they were being made, but that ran aground due to issues around privacy.

“Another thing we wanted to make sure of was that the system wouldn’t need to be integrated into any force back-end systems, which is why we’re using the cloud,” she continues. “It’s a standalone, Microsoft-driven piece of software, to which we’re still hoping to add things such as analytics functionality so the police can see if a perpetrator is harassing more than one victim.

“That would also be able to indicate escalation, which again would be incredibly useful from an investigation and victim-protection point of view.

All we need now is a pilot force to run it.”

The many forms of harassment

The Crown Prosecution Service defines harassment (in reference to the 1997 Protection

Adobe Stock/opolja

Cyberstalking can take a variety of forms

18

December 2018 | www.bapco.org.uk | Twitter: @BritishAPCO

SAFETY THROUGH CONNECTIVITY Every six minutes, the emergency button is pressed. It’s vital the call for help gets through.

That’s why the design focus for our ST7500 and MTP6650 next generation portable radios was safety - the safety of the community through faster emergency response and the safety of the officer. Our latest TETRA portable radios provide loud and clear audio, enhanced coverage and improved location tracking to aid dispatch and minimise response times.

Give your officers communications they can rely on for the frontline.

Procure through the Police ICT National Airwave Terminal Framework.

Find out more about our TETRA Radios www.motorolasolutions.com/uktetra

MOTOROLA, MOTO, MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS and the Stylized M Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Motorola Trademark Holdings, LLC and are used under license.

All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. ©2018 Motorola Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. 10-2018

COLLABORATIVE WORKING

from Harassment Act) as the making of “repeated attempts to impose unwanted communications and contact upon a victim in a manner that could be expected to cause distress or fear in any reasonable person”. Stalking – which is legislated under the same Act – meanwhile is conceptualised as persistent activity designed to “curtail a victim’s freedom… for example, following a person, watching or spying on them, or forcing contact with the victim through any means, including social media”.

Regarding ‘contact through social media’ in particular, these activities can take many forms, ranging from the relatively straightforward, such as incessant unwanted communication and repeated threats, to the downright vile (eg, posting fake or real sexual images of the victim online).

According to internet security specialist GlobalSign, meanwhile, cyberstalkers have also been known to resort to more asymmetrical tactics, including creating malicious websites and blogs, as well as hacking a victim’s social media, in order to destroy their reputation online. The mindnumbingly depressing list is apparently endless.

Given its multi-faceted (and, as mentioned, often anonymous) nature, it is probably no surprise that the criminal justice system is currently less ahead of the game than it might be when it comes to tackling this kind of online crime, at least according to Short. Another possible reason for this, she says, is the fact that online harassment generally only takes place at the level of discourse rather than ‘action’, thereby making situations appear less urgent than they might do in relation to domestic abuse, ‘real world’ stalking and so on.

With that in mind, what tangible help can the University of Bedfordshire’s new app provide in making police officers’ lives more straightforward? “All the benefits are wrapped up with the process of evidence-gathering taking place through the app and the cloud, something which in itself is quite unique,” explains Short. “At the same time, the solution also has the ability to arrange the information provided, as well as making it useable in an operational context.”

She continues: “For instance, it produces live reports straight from the victim’s phone, the primary intention of which is to reduce the workload of officers when it comes to looking at different incidents. It also draws up a CPS-style report, detailing what was said, how it was said, and what the location was of any incident. This takes place in conjunction with our risk-assessment system, which enables forces to triage out something like 95 per cent of the calls.”

Returning to the subject of the urgency of the threat, or rather the likelihood of it spilling over into the real world, she says: “We’ve got some indications that it is an issue, but there’s not quite enough evidence to put it out there quite yet. That’s another reason that we really want to work with a police force, so we can gain a better understanding from their perspective.

“The indicators suggest that it can become a problem offline in cases where there’s been some kind of ‘investment’ on the part of the person doing the stalking. That could be someone who’s felt like they’ve had a bad experience with online dating, or it could literally mean a financial transaction.

“Another example is when someone is a member of a very committed online community who feel like they’ve made

20

an investment in one another, and the other members believe the person has let them down in some way. That’s exactly the same kind of dynamic that happens offline, and it has the potential to transfer into the real world.”

As indicated, one of the police forces Short and her team worked with on the app was Bedfordshire.

Discussing the value of the solution, Beds superintendent Mark Upex says: “The app is really useful. It should save time when collating evidence, as well as ensuring the victim can keep their phone.

“Although feedback from various parties was really positive, it hasn’t yet been tested on a real case in Bedfordshire due to several significant challenges, in particular the roll-out of new IT system Athena. We hope to start using the technology in the near future.”

Discussing the crime itself, he continues: “The digital and social media world is ever-expanding, and as there are vast opportunities for people to commit an online offence, we expect to see this type of offence become more prevalent.”

At their worst, the effects of cyberstalking are clearly devastating, and even more so when the harassment shifts from online to offline. The National Centre for Cyberstalking Research is carrying out invaluable work, both in terms of its research, and in how it is putting that learning to use.

December 2018 | www.bapco.org.uk | Twitter: @BritishAPCO

UNIFYING CRITICAL COMMUNICATIONS FOR PUBLIC SAFETY Tait Unified Critical Communications help Public Safety organisations around the world keep their communities safe.

Developing a deeper understanding of our clients’ needs, we improve situational awareness, worker safety and organisational efficiency.

Our innovative solutions enable unified personal and vehicle area networks.

Tait Unified Vehicle, Tait TeamPTT, and BioLink combine leading-edge communication technologies LTE, Bluetooth™ and WiFi, with digital private mobile radio and computing capability.

Visit us to see how these innovative solutions can help you.

Tait is proud to be a Silver Sponsor of BAPCO 2019.

Learn more at taitradio.com/BAPCO

We’ll be at

STAND E40 & E50, RICOH ARENA, COVENTRY 12-13 March 2019

22

December 2018 | www.bapco.org.uk | Twitter: @BritishAPCO

FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE

Out with the old

Philip Mason talks to Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service about how its Transformation 2020 digital comms programme is changing the culture of the organisation, as well as plans to use IoT technology to manage protective equipment

M

id and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service might not necessarily be the first place you picture when it comes to cutting-edge R&D, particularly compared with more apparently ‘urban’ organisations such as West Midlands FS, London Fire Brigade and so on.

Not only is it geographically the third-largest FRS in England and Wales, however – covering nearly 4,500 square miles – it is also driven by some extraordinarily forward-looking management thinking, particularly when it comes to the deployment of digital technology.

This is apparent in the first instance in regard to the operational side of the organisation’s work, as evidenced by its use of drones, as well as its concept of what it calls the “digitised fireground”. These are things we plan to cover in more depth in a future issue of the BAPCO Journal as the technology continues to mature and more use-cases are found.

At the same time, however, Mid and West Wales is also involved in a programme which, if successful, will revolutionise not only its internal business infrastructure but also, more than likely, the culture of the organisation itself.

This is something it refers to as Transformation 2020, a multifaceted initiative in part incorporating cutting-edge IoT principles into its building stock and back-end systems.

Knowledge of the business

Transformation 2020 (or T20) had its origins in the organisation’s recent strategic review, carried out in 2016 – according to programme manager Steve McLinden – to help navigate the ongoing effects of austerity. Out of that came a realisation that the organisation’s legacy digitised HR system was no longer fit for purpose (more of which later), which in turn prompted a root-andbranch examination of all workflows across the service.

Integral to this has been the question of how technology can help those in the organisation operate in a more intelligent and efficient way, something that has been measured, at least in part, by the reduction in the number of ‘steps’ required to complete a specific procedure. For McLinden, a headline example of this is the changeover from the aforementioned HR system to an FRS-specific cloud (Microsoft Azure)-based platform known as FireWatch.

“The main advantage with FireWatch,” he says, “is that it knows our business, which means that it knows the data which we need in order to be compliant. The upshot of that is that we no longer have to ‘bend’ commercially available software in order to do what we need to do. It was developed by fire and rescue services for fire services.

“For instance, regarding workforce availability, it understands the importance of having a certain number of firefighters, with a certain

Twitter: @BritishAPCO | www.bapco.org.uk | December 2018

level of skilling, available at certain times throughout the service area.”

He continues: “A good example of how we’ve been able to make things more efficient using the solution is in relation to the occupational health team, which has reduced its processes by something like 47 per cent. It’s also been able to shrink its use of paper almost completely.

“Again, regarding something like people reporting sick, with our legacy system the number of steps it took from someone ringing in to the point where they returned to work was something like 142. We’ve got that down to about 30.”

Another process that is on the verge of being transformed by T20 is the payment of on-call (retained) firefighters. Again, this is something that sounds like it has been far more complicated than it necessarily needed to be, particularly when considered in the light of a certain kind of technology which has been in widespread use by the general public for years.

“One of the things we’re looking for [with] on-call firefighters is contactless payments, again working in conjunction with the FireWatch system,” says McLinden. “There are currently 97 steps to them getting paid, which is clearly too many to be even remotely efficient. We know that it’s 97 because we’ve counted them.”

He continues: “With the new system, crews will scan a token against a reader – just like you do with contactless [payments] – which will in turn send the information through to the payment register.

The information commander then validates the information at the end of the shift. In theory, if they press the send button at 11.59, it’ll be on the payroll the next day. In other words, the crews get paid immediately, which obviously makes them very happy.”

Internet of PPE

McLinden says the Transformation 2020 programme is organised according to several key principles that have guided things since the beginning. The most important of these is that whatever work takes place, the endusers themselves have to be fully involved, which then enables them to “take ownership” of whichever technology ends up being rolled out.

This has been very much the case with the aforementioned HR functionality and, as indicated,

23

FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE

the anticipation is that FireWatch will not only make firefighters’ working lives more straightforward, but also more pleasant.

There is also another area in which Mid and West Wales employees have perhaps seen even more investment – the working environment itself.

Speaking of the work going on in this area, McLinden says: “Our mission statement is to create time and space through the use of technology. Regarding the latter part of that, we’ve come up with the ‘station 2020’ concept, which in essence involves ripping out the watch room and installing a bench-style worktop and storage solution.”

He continues: “One of the main Personal protective equipment (PPE ) pieces of feedback we’ve had from is currently difficult to keep track of users is that there’s not enough IT hardware available to them, and what is available isn’t agile enough. Going forward – based on a one-pump on-call station – Changing the culture they’ll now have two laptops, as well as four tablets and two interactive It’s clear that Mid and West Wales FRS is undergoing touchscreen computers. massive change, not only from a technological “We’re also enhancing Wi-Fi capability on all stations, and in the perspective but also in terms of the culture of the future, as demand increases, we also want them to be able to connect organisation itself. on their own devices. We’ve had a bit of good fortune because Public For McLinden, the latter has been essential for Sector Broadband Aggregation [a Welsh initiative providing emergency both moving the project forward and getting it services with a country-wide private, secure wide area network] is off the ground in the first place, particularly given quadrupling the bandwidth on every station.” the apparent lack of agility baked into how the As beneficial as this will no doubt prove to be, arguably the most organisation used to conduct its business prior to the interesting aspect of this part of the project is what McLinden refers to 2016 strategic review. as the development of “PPE vending machines” as an integral part of a “When I was offered the chance to do this,” he kind of ‘internet of personal protective equipment’. says, “one of the criteria I put forward was that I “At the moment we probably operate at a ratio of three and a didn’t want to just re-hash all our previous technology half sets of PPE to every one firefighter. At the same time, we only implementation programmes, or the models that ever have limited access to about 50 per cent of the stock as an we used to roll them out. What we used to do was organisation, because people tend to keep that kit in their own lockers. introduce a system which required the ‘bending’ of “There are other logistical concerns as well. For instance, currently, the users’ needs to the technology, rather than the with personal issue PPE, someone working in Port Talbot might have other way around, only to discover that it didn’t actually their cleaned kit returned 80 miles away in Aberystwyth, and it could deliver the outcomes that we wanted it to. be six weeks before they get it back.”

“I wanted us to start to become comfortable with He continues: “What we want to do is use ultra-high-frequency a certain amount of risk, which involved pitching a radio frequency identification, backed by intelligent management completely new way of working to the strategic team. software, to essentially create a pool of available PPE by size.

We now have implicit support from them to the point “Rather than having their own personal issue kit, firefighters will where what we’ve termed ‘controlled failure’ – and it have access to kit in their size, via a vending machine-style storage has to be ‘controlled’ – is actually viewed as a healthy device with RFID scanners, enabling equipment to be available at much option. That’s given us so much freedom, and we’ve shorter notice. Another advantage of that is that we’ll be able to sweat become far more aware of what’s possible.” our assets much better, rather than the current situation where you McLinden says the idea of the project is to have city centre kits getting a lot of use and rural ones used less.” completely change the DNA of the organisation Regarding the ‘intelligent management software’, McLinden envisions via a process of constant “re-energisation” through the ability to analyse real-time incident data, alongside social media, technology. By the time the project is fully rolled out weather forecasts and so on, in order to predict where particular bits by 2020, Mid and West Wales will be well on the way of kit are most needed on any given day. This aspect of the project has to achieving just that. just received £30,000 of funding from ‘innovation foundation’ Nesta.

24

December 2018 | www.bapco.org.uk | Twitter: @BritishAPCO

ADVERTISEMENT

Mobilize your front line.

Introducing the new TC57 and TC77 Touch Computers.

Get your workforce moving with the new TC57 and TC77 touch computers from Zebra. They’re both fully supported by the newly upgraded Mobility DNA, a Suite of Business, Management, Productivity and Development Tools. And robust 4G LTE WWAN keeps your workforce connected – and capable.

Visit zebra.com/mobilecomputers to learn more.

©2018 ZIH Corp. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. ZEBRA and the stylized Zebra head are trademarks of ZIH Corp., registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Twitter: @BritishAPCO | www.bapco.org.uk | December 2018

25

MEMBER PROFILE

Opportunities and issues Tait UK and Ireland business development manager Richard Russell discusses the future of the sector

Q

Could you give me some information about your professional background?

I have a diverse telecommunications career spanning 36 years, allowing me to gain extensive experience in business- and mission-critical narrow and broadband radio communication technologies.

I am proud to have joined Tait Communications in July of this year, as business development manager UK & Ireland. I am focused on critical communications for utilities, transportation and in particular public safety.

A

Q

How did you first become involved with the digital communications aspect of public safety?

I spent 25 years at Motorola Solutions. As such, I held numerous technical and business positions for the EMEA region, including product management of devices and infrastructure, business development for accessories and energy, and ‘go-to’ market product specialist. This included DMR, TETRA and LTE devices, as well as their accessory solutions, with the aim of customising the user experience.

This in turn led to extensive work with fire and rescue services in Europe and the UK, collaborating with self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) manufacturers. After experiencing fireground training exercises, I realised a ‘whole’ solution approach was required for incident and BA communications.

This experience created the inspiration for a development programme for fireground incident communications and SCBA communication solutions, to help the migration from analogue to DMR.

A

Q

How did you first come into contact with BAPCO? What’s been the level of your involvement up until now, and what work do you do currently?

I’ve previously supported BAPCO events via my position at Motorola. Having come on board at Tait Communications recently, I also joined BAPCO’s Executive Committee.

A 26

Q

What benefits does the organisation offer?

Q

How have you benefited from it specifically?

A

BAPCO offers great benefits as an organisation, helping its members to understand – and engage with – the core issues affecting public safety communications and its evolving requirements.

A

Being part of the BAPCO Executive Committee has enabled me to network with solution partners and key stakeholders. This has facilitated new and exciting dialogues, which I hope will begin to address some of the challenges we face when converging the digital narrowband and broadband voice and data requirements of ESN.

Q

What will be the unique challenges faced by the sector going forward?

The challenges currently facing the sector moving into the future include finding appropriate funding, as well as developing the awareness of what is possible in order to address the needs of public safety. The appetite for technology solutions is there, but adapting those solutions to changing needs is challenging.

A

Q

What are the challenges and opportunities presented by new, broadband-enabled technology?

What’s interesting to me is that the integration of broadband-enabled technology with narrowband communications is a particular requirement, especially within fire and rescue services. Being able to converge voice and data over DMR (for the “The appetite for fireground), LTE, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth – via technology solutions Tait’s Unified Vehicle – will enable entry is there, but adapting control officers to monitor the vital signs of firefighters and enhance their safety. The those solutions to Unified Vehicle creates a localised network changing needs is of networks and Ethernet connectivity for mobile data terminals. challenging”

A

December 2018 | www.bapco.org.uk | Twitter: @BritishAPCO

ADVERTISEMENT

Giving you confidence when communication is critical

Mason Advisory is an independent consultancy that matches technology know-how with commercial and business sense. For over 20 years, organisations across the public sector have trusted our consultants to support their most critical projects.

Blue-light organisations share some key challenges around resilience, cost reduction, and data management and security. Our team has provided advice and assurance for major programmes around the world, including here in the UK, Norway,

the Caribbean and Hong Kong, focussing on critical mobile communications, command and control, digital data and storage, and information security.

We continue as a key part of in the Home Office Delivery Partner team for the GBP1 billion Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme.

We advise on all aspects of public-safety communications, including fixed and wireless voice and data networks, control room and technologies.

3 YEARS

FULLY RUGGED WARRANTY WITH ACCIDENTAL DAMAGE

USE YOUR BUDGET MORE EFFICIENTLY BY REDUCING YOUR OPERATIONAL COSTS

BEST IN CLASS SERVICE AND SUPPORT VEHICLE SOLUTION INTEGRATION ZERO OPERATIONAL COSTS

+44 (0)1952 207220

sales-getac-uk@getac.com

www.getac.com

Copyright© 2018 Getac Technology Corporation and/or any of its affiliates. All rights reserved. *T&C’s apply. E&OE.

Twitter: @BritishAPCO | www.bapco.org.uk | December 2018

27

FUTURE TECHNOLOGY

Heads in the cloud

The BAPCO Journal talks to the CEO of ‘cloud aided dispatch’ solution RapidDeploy about the changing face of the control room market

T

he past few years have seen a variety of debates emerge regarding the move from narrowband to broadband public safety communications currently taking place in different countries around the world.

In the US, for instance, the primary focus has been the ongoing, (comparatively) smooth transition from P25 to FirstNet, and in particular the programme’s attendant dedicated public safety radio spectrum. In the UK, meanwhile, the ESN saga has witnessed first-responders at various points during the process querying whether they are actually going to be able to communicate with each other at all.

While in the UK the broadband/TETRA debate may have currently abated (or at least been deferred until Airwave is finally switched off), there are, however, still parallel discussions to be had around other ‘disruptive’ technologies, many of which will be utilised in conjunction with the Emergency Services Network. These include handheld smart devices, ‘in-vehicle’ communications, as well as – vitally – SaaS (software as a service) control rooms, with the latter being the focus of this issue’s ‘future tech’ section.

Steven Raucher is the CEO of RapidDeploy, which has developed what it calls the cloud aided dispatch (CAD) platform. This is described on the organisation’s website as: “Simplifying the complexity of emergency dispatch through precise address location, improved situational awareness, allocation of appropriate resources for optimised response, mobile field service apps and advanced incident management tools.”

As might be expected, Raucher is a veritable evangelist for both his own product as well as those like it, which he sees as the future of both call-taking and dispatch in the realm of public safety. Perhaps more interesting, however, is his take on the design process, which he believes has to originate with the emergency services themselves to be truly effective.

Active duty

Originally from South Africa, Raucher’s professional background is in business IT, with previous employers including the likes of UBS, Credit Suisse and ICAP. His time at Credit Suisse included a two-year sabbatical during which he motorcycled from London to Australia with his brother, Bobby. He subsequently retired from the finance sector in 2015, leaving him with what he describes as “nothing but time on my hands”.

Tragically, however, in 2006 his brother died in a swimming

28

accident in Cape Town, an event which prompted Raucher to join South Africa’s National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) as a volunteer first-responder when he returned to the city in 2015. Being an active duty first-responder gave him the desire to re-enter the IT sector, but this time as a provider of communications software to the emergency services.

Speaking of his entry into the market – and the history of the RapidDeploy product – he says: “We initially developed the platform in South Africa, working as essentially very tech-savvy first-responders.

My business partner, Brett – who is the former CTO of the second-largest online casino in the world, and developed the solution – had also moved back from London, and ended up becoming a volunteer paramedic in Cape Town.

The two of us met for the first time at a cocktail reception.

“Brett built the platform to be completely cloud-native, which means we can make it web-based, with the ability to operate from anywhere with an internet “Raucher is connection. Because Africa has quite poor a veritable evangelist for data connectivity, he constructed it with a both his own minimum 3G data requirement, and we’ve subsequently deployed as far afield as Fiji product as well as those and Nepal.”

He continues: “We’re a complete like it”

December 2018 | www.bapco.org.uk | Twitter: @BritishAPCO

FUTURE TECHNOLOGY

Microsoft baby – built in .NET with an SQL back end and all data visualisation in Power BI. We have no issues around latency because the product is engineered to operate in high-latency network environments, such as cellular networks.”

While refusing to answer why the latter might be the case (“that’s our secret sauce”), Raucher does give the BAPCO Journal a personalised real-time demo of the product in the middle of a coffee shop, carried out on his laptop using the café’s dodgy Wi-Fi connection.

This involved your correspondent being sent a link to his phone, through which the system was able to not only locate the device’s precise location but also enable the streaming of video footage as a potential aid to situational awareness. Other functionality includes bulk dispatch, integrated vehicle and responder tracking, route optimisation and so on.

On the line

As mentioned, both Raucher and his business partner volunteer as firstresponders, as apparently do the majority of people currently working for his company.

This, he believes, allows the organisation a unique insight into the needs of those operating on the emergency services front line, something which he also maintains

Twitter: @BritishAPCO | www.bapco.org.uk | December 2018

would benefit others involved in the comms technology design process.

“My brother, Bobby, is the one who ultimately set me on this path,” he says, “because if he hadn’t passed away, I would have never understood how important location accuracy is when it comes to saving someone’s life.

“Brett feels the same when it comes to his role as a paramedic, and he’s out on the road every weekend using our platform.”

With that in mind, Raucher feels that South Africa has been the ideal “petri dish” in which to develop the product, given the “high trauma” nature of the environment. This in turn has led to his belief that ‘agility’ has to be a top priority when it comes to operating within the control room.

Discussing this in relation to functionality, he continues: “Essentially, we’re trying to affect change, both in terms of educating governments and first-responder organisations, as well as the market itself about the benefits of operating out of the cloud. That includes the ability to be agile to operate from anywhere – but also to integrate other non-proprietary solutions, which for us includes things such as live traffic, video streaming and weather services.

“Again, because we operate using the cloud, that’s where we do all our roll-backs, updates and releases. We have two geo-redundant data centres, more than a thousand miles apart, and can hot-switch between them without the customer even knowing.”

Talking about the apparent reaction of the market so far, he says: “I’ve presented at a variety of public safety conferences in North America, and when I talk about the solution, you can almost sense the air being sucked out of the room. I start streaming live video from a member of the audience’s cell phone straight into my CAD, just like I did with you. They’re amazed at the kind of thing which is possible now, which they really had no idea about.”

There is an ever-increasing number of options when it comes to the deployment of emergency services control room technology, with cloud-based solutions gaining greater popularity. This is reflected in products such as RapidDeploy inching onto the global market, as well as the company’s UK partner APD Communications being the first to have its cloud-based ICCS (integrated communication control system) accredited for ESN. That being said, there are also clearly a number of important factors when it comes to procuring technology as complicated and hi-spec as that being used in control rooms, and it is not the Journal’s place to suggest that one is superior to another.

(Readers of the December 2017 issue, for instance, will remember UK ambulance trusts providing some incredibly sound reasoning in relation to their new on-site ICCS, as provided by Frequentis).

What is certain, however, is that no matter what the technology, it is preferable that those involved in its design have a certain amount of empathy with those who will ultimately be tasked with using it. It is, after all, their lives which are on the line.

29

EVENTS

“Go back to your constituencies and prepare for ESN” The Journal reports from the latest BAPCO Satellite Series event, where visitors received a crucial update on the recent Emergency Services Network ‘relaunch’

T

he run-up to BAPCO’s most recent Newcastle event (taking place in November, at St James’s Park) was one of the most fraught – or at least the most uncertain – in the recent history of the public safety digital comms sector.

The core reason for this was the level of unpredictability surrounding the UK government’s Emergency Services Network project, which up until several weeks prior to the conference was still undergoing the root and branch review announced earlier in 2018. Indeed, as we were to learn from one of the key Newcastle speakers early on, there was one point during this process when the programme itself was in very real jeopardy.

The other reason for the uncertainty surrounding the event was the continually developing nature of the technology itself, with any number of potential use-cases still being explored in relation to the use of broadband for public safety.

Starting again

The first, and arguably most anticipated, presentation of the day came from Becca Jones who, as well as being the director of customer engagement at ESMCP (the Emergency Services Mobile Communications Project) is also now a member of the BAPCO Executive Committee.

She gave an update on the ‘relaunch of ESN’, following the decisions made as part of the review mentioned above. This began with some insight into what’s happened behind the scenes since the BAPCO satellite event in the spring.

“Perhaps the most significant part of the past 12 months has been the review and the reset of the programme,” she said.

“Three things came out loud and clear, following what was a comprehensive and extremely detailed review of the programme.

“Firstly, the Emergency Services Network is the right strategic choice to replace Airwave. Second, ESN also represents the best value for money for the taxpayer. Finally, [during the review it was decided that] the way the programme was being delivered really needed to change.”

She continued: “I want to underline that the review really didn’t pull any punches, and the reason it took longer than

30

“There was a point earlier this year when I genuinely thought that the programme might be closed”

ESN was a core subject of the Newcastle presentations

expected was because it was absolutely exhaustive in looking at all of the possible options. There was a point earlier this year when I genuinely thought that the programme might be closed.”

Focusing specifically on how the programme needs to be delivered differently compared with in its early days, Jones outlined the different strategies now being adopted by the Home Office in order to take the project forward. The most crucial of these is probably a fundamental change of approach regarding the technology itself, with ESMCP now progressing according to what Jones referred to as “globally defined standards”, rather than any kind of proprietary solution.

“We started out with technology which was the best available at the time when the contracts were signed, but were also pre-standards,” she said. “This put us as at a fundamental disadvantage, making several aspects of the programme more complex than originally anticipated, and was one of the main reasons that the network has faced delays. When Motorola Solutions bought [broadband PTT solution] Kodiak last year, it seemed like an obvious decision to move away from WAVE 7000.”

Emphasising what the programme refers to as “incremental delivery” (ie, the opportunity to adopt ESN data services in phases, prior to full roll-out of the network’s mission-critical push-to-talk function), Jones subsequently listed the products that will start to become available to users over the

December 2018 | www.bapco.org.uk | Twitter: @BritishAPCO

EVENTS

Morris said the final details of the full business case for the programme were currently being worked through.

The process of transformation

coming months. These include coverage testing app ESN Assure (more on which later), SIM-only data plan ESN Connect/ Connect Plus, as well as Prime/Prime Plus, ESN Air and ESN Innovate.

According to Jones, ESN Prime (which will “meet the most stringent user requirements”) is scheduled to be rolled out from mid-2022.

Speaking of the anticipated benefit of this approach, Jones said: “The incremental release of ESN products to the emergency services will allow value to be derived from those aspects of the service that will be available soonest. We’re now using commercial, off-the-shelf solutions to simplify delivery, reduce risk and support a standardsbased future.”

Moving on to the still-unresolved subject of device-to-device communication, meanwhile, Jones said that a proof-of-concept demonstration of 4G LTE ProSe was held in October. She concluded, however, that: “If ProSe is not acceptable or available in the timescales which we require it, there will be an alternative solution. Possibly based on TETRA direct mode.”

Jones was followed by DCC Richard Morris, who communicated a high level of optimism from the user side. “I really do think we’re very nearly there,” he said. “I personally sense – having worked really closely within the programme – a real enthusiasm, positivity and can-do attitude. Go back to your constituencies and prepare for ESN.”

Twitter: @BritishAPCO | www.bapco.org.uk | December 2018

“We’re now using commercial, off-the-shelf solutions to simplify delivery”

The Emergency Services Network-related content continued into the second day, which began with a panel discussion involving ESMCP deputy director Steve Whatson, head of ESN customer advocacy at EE Lucy Baker, and Motorola Solutions’ Simon McCutcheon. The theme of the session was ‘building user confidence in ESN’.

The session began with a mini-presentation from each of the participants, starting with Whatson, who re-iterated that users will start to see palpable benefits of the network soon.

Returning to the subject of ESN Assure – which at that point was just on the verge of being rolled out (see page 8) – he said: “The big step forward is that the user is now going to start testing the coverage themselves. This moves us dramatically away from just standing in front of you with a set of PowerPoint slides, saying ‘this is what we’re going to do’”.

He continued: “In terms of user reassurance, the Assure testing should be the key step forward. Where there are gaps in coverage, it needs to be decided which of them you [the user community] wants to fill. If there’s a gap in the north of Scotland which only gets one call every two weeks, is that something you want to spend money on?”

Remaining on the subject of Assure, Baker reiterated how important the product is for EE. As per the theme of the session, she also attempted to reassure users about progress in relation to coverage itself, saying: “Rolling out coverage is our core business, and we have the capacity to draw on resources as and when requirements come in. We’ve got time to understand where the gaps are, and work with users and the Home Office to design solutions which will hopefully address that.”

The last ESN session came at the end of the second day, with another multi-speaker slot focusing this time on the network and the process of business change. This was chaired by ESN senior user Ian Taylor.

Speaking of how the prospect of ESN has prompted organisations across the region to examine all of their processes in a more holistic way, Julie Antrobus, business change project manager, North West regional ESN team, said: “While the network is certainly a technical programme, it’s also about transformational business change.”

She continued: “If we’re adjusting our whole IT infrastructure, then we also need to look at the rest of the organisation to make sure that still fits. We’ll have to have new processes in place, and in the same way, we’ll need to look at the people who carry out those processes.” Taking an operational example, she discussed the way in which best practice around pursuits is being reformulated to take into account the new opportunities ESN will provide in relation to talk groups.

Other sessions across the two days included a session looking at MAIT (multi-agency incident transfer) delivered by Mott MacDonald and Atos, as well as an introduction to the Defence and Security Accelerator delivered by the organisation’s representative, Andrew Peaty.

31

EVENTS

Due north BAPCO vice-president Chris Lucas reports from the APCO Canada Conference & Tradeshow

W

hile the British APCO Satellite Series event in Newcastle was under way in early November, APCO Canada was holding its annual conference and tradeshow in Montreal. British APCO has always supported the event with one of our board of directors attending – hence I found myself travelling to Canada, trying to brush up on my French for use in Quebec.

APCO Canada was the first chapter of APCO International, forming in 1987 (which means that it precedes the 1993 launch of British APCO). The organisation has hosted its conference since 1988, viewing it to be the flagship education, networking and learning event for public safety communications professionals in the country.

The conference is rotated around the country, with a different location every year. Both the 2019 and 2020 venues are booked, in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Kelowna, British Columbia respectively. This is due to the size of the country and the recognition to try and allow access to all fairly.

Content for control room staff

The conference and tradeshow takes place over the course of four days, which on the surface looks a long time. However, when you consider what’s featured on the programme, the duration makes sense.

Day one was focused on full-day CPD sessions, delivered by the APCO Institute. These were aimed at control room staff, who were given a choice of ‘disaster operations in the communications centre’ or ‘active shooter’. For me, however, it was an opportunity to informally meet the APCO Canada board as part of their board meeting. This was chaired by Cindy Sparrow, the APCO Canada president.

Predictably – and to everyone’s amusement – a pre-prepared slide showing a map of Great Britain sat within the borders of British Columbia was put up on the screen during the meeting.

Canada is vast, which presents its own challenges (although the UK has nearly double the population of our North American ally).

We then moved onto business, and had a very beneficial discussion on how we can work together moving forward.

Day one concluded with an informal social event, which was advertised as ‘Boogie Down at the Bier Markt’. Photographs of this have been withheld…

Cyber security and change management

Next it was on to day two, which the conference and tradeshow started formally with its opening ceremony. The two key themes throughout the event were around mental health within control rooms, as well as ‘next-gen 911’.

The topic of mental health was represented by the opening

32

keynote speaker, Francoise Mathieu.

Francoise is a registered psychotherapist, and a subject matter expert on topics related to compassion fatigue and secondary trauma. She has worked extensively with control room staff across Canada, and spoke eloquently on the topic, which is obviously being taken very seriously in the country.

Following the opening sessions, the tradeshow was opened, with clear time until the afternoon sessions. This part of the event contained many familiar names, and also some new ones; I am still trying to get my head around the cost of P25 radio terminals though.

A variety of sessions were available to “To everyone’s attend in the afternoon covering a range amusement, a of topics including cyber security, change pre-prepared management and incident analysis – slide showing matching topics that would also be relevant for British APCO events. The day concluded a map of Great Britain with a social event in the form of a walking tour of Montreal, including some of the sat within subsurface walkways. the borders A sponsor’s dinner was also held with the of British APCO Canada board of directors, APCO Columbia”

December 2018 | www.bapco.org.uk | Twitter: @BritishAPCO

EVENTS

next-gen 911 looking at innovation, enablers and people. A final keynote speaker, Danielle Sauvegeau, closed the tradeshow.

Danielle is well-known in Canada, and was a serving police officer with both the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Montreal’s police department. At the moment, however, she is most famous for being the first head coach of the Canadian women’s ice hockey team to lead them to an Olympic gold medal in 50 years.

A few things became very apparent during her presentation.

First, she was an excellent choice of speaker; secondly, the Canadians are absolutely ice hockey crazy; and finally, my French remains abysmal.

Would it work here?

The APCO Canada event took place over four days

Canada awards winners, and other invited “Canada is guests – which included APCO International delivering (US), and me on behalf of British APCO. a new Moving on to day three and proceedings emergency began with the board of directors’ ‘pancake services IP breakfast’, complete with obligatory maple network, syrup. Breakfast over, a further keynote connecting to session was then held on the Canadian public safety NG9-1-1 roadmap, taking the form of a answering panel presentation. points” Canada is delivering a new emergency services IP Network (ESInet), connecting to public safety answering points (PSAPs). This will be delivered for voice services by end of June 2020, with data following around 18 months later. The legacy equipment is to be decommissioned by the end of June 2023, and any PSAP that has not carried out the necessary upgrades will no longer be able to handle 911 calls.

(Coincidentally, during the lunch period there was a celebration of the fact that the 911 service in Canada was celebrating its 50th birthday in 2018).

Again, throughout the rest of the day many of the sessions were hosted with a focus on

Twitter: @BritishAPCO | www.bapco.org.uk | December 2018

The highlight of the event for many followed on from this, in the form of the APCO Awards Gala, which is very similar in style to our own Conference Dinner. The main difference is that four awards are given out – Technologist of the Year, Trainer of the Year, Telecommunicator of the Year and Team Award.

All award-winners were extremely worthy, and in the award to Team of the Year it was apparent again how much ice hockey means to the country. The award was given to the control room teams who co-ordinated the response to a horrific crash involving the Humboldt Broncos’ Junior Ice Hockey team in Saskatchewan earlier this year. It was a humbling moment, and it was apparent how much this incident impacted across Canada.

The final day started with the APCO Canada AGM, with an ambitious start time of 07.30. This tends to be a lower-key day, as the tradeshow has closed and many delegates have begun departing for home. A couple of next-gen 911 sessions were taking place, however, alternating with tours of UrgencesSanté’s control room. Urgences-Santé provides the statutory public emergency medical service for Montreal and has recently opened its new control room.

So, what to take from the four days spent at APCO Canada?

Would such a long format work for us in British APCO? In answer to the second question, you will be relieved to hear that I would say that it’s a definite no. However, it is entirely appropriate for Canada, given that – due to the size of the country – it would be difficult for them to host more events.

Even their board of directors struggle to meet face-to-face due to the geography and associated time and cost issues, and so plan their main meetings around the country.

It was certainly a privilege to represent British APCO in Canada and meet so many likeminded people across a spectrum of backgrounds. It is clear that we face and share similar challenges in supporting public safety communications, and we have great opportunities to share our experiences and learning together.

I would like to thank the APCO Canada president Cindy Sparrow and her board of directors, Gavin Hayes, Ron Williscroft, Tammy Waugh, Jennifer Moreton and Robert Stewart, for hosting me so well. I look forward to returning the favour for some of them in Coventry in March, when they will be contributing to the panel session focusing on control rooms, with a particular emphasis on mental health.

33

WHAT IF

Adobe Stock/Annette Schindler

Responding to a chemical attack The recent Salisbury incident demonstrates that a chemical or biological attack in a metropolitan area is a very real threat. Kate O’Flaherty reports on the likely response, and how technology would be deployed should an incident happen on an even larger scale

The scenario

Incidents involving chemical or biological agents can be catastrophic. This was especially apparent after the Salisbury incident in March, which saw Sergei Skripal – a former Russian military officer – and his daughter Yulia collapse after coming into contact with the novichok nerve agent.

The wider fall-out from this was also huge – months later, a woman died after handling a perfume bottle that had housed the deadly chemical as it was smuggled into the UK. The attack furthermore impacted the Salisbury area itself, resulting in a lack of trade and a fall in visitor numbers (in addition to massive policing costs).

This was not the first time chemical agents have been used in the West, however. In 2006, for instance, Alexander Litvinenko – a former FSB and KGB officer – died after he was poisoned with radioactive polonium-210.

A few years earlier, following the September 11 attacks in 2001, anthrax was sent to prominent US figures including journalists and politicians, killing five people and infecting 17 others. An attack involving the deadly biological toxin ricin was part of a foiled terror attack in Germany this year, meanwhile.

With that in mind, the threat from this type of attack is clearly growing. Experts say Al-Qaida and Isis have been trying to get their hands on chemical, biological and radiological weapons, presumably for use in a heavily populated area or transport hub. The consequences of such an incident could be devastating.

Governments have prepared incident response plans in case such an attack should take place, involving digital communications and other technology, to help first detect the problem and then, if necessary, evacuate and decontaminate the area. So, what would happen if a chemical attack occurred in a

34

metropolitan area such as a city centre or train station in the US or Europe?

The solution

“Experts say Al-Qaida and Isis have been trying to get their hands on chemical, biological and radiological weapons”

In the first instance, the response would depend on the type of agent used – whether it is lethal or merely incapacitating – as well as the dispersal method. “Even weather conditions have an impact,” says Simon Giddins, managing director at Blackstone Consultancy.

Depending on where the attack occurs, NHS HART personnel – who specialise in rescue and care in high-risk environments – alongside police CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear) teams would form the response, says Dan Kaszeta, MD of Strongpoint Security.

These response units would use various types of detection and identification instruments, says Kaszeta. “Generally speaking, these would be used for presumptive identification in the field, to be backed up with laboratory results. But detection equipment has a lot of uses in a major incident.”

Such equipment includes the LCD 3.3, which is deployed with armed forces globally.

Featuring audible and visual alarms, the device can be handheld or clipped to a belt or harness. It features a clear display and can be fitted with a survey nozzle to aid in

December 2018 | www.bapco.org.uk | Twitter: @BritishAPCO

ADVERTISEMENT

Tell your side of the story Join the discussion and stay up to date with the latest news Look out for ’s tweets on breaking news and from industry events tweet us at @Land_Mobile Expand the reach of your network Connect with us via LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/ groups/4761728

Twitter: @BritishAPCO | www.bapco.org.uk | December 2018

35

WHAT IF

the detection of residual persistent contamination. Data logging records up to 72 hours of mission data for future analysis.

As well as detection, emergency services would want to evacuate as quickly as possible, says Philip Ingram, former colonel in British military intelligence and CBRN expert. “There are also a number of initiatives allowing police to get the message out, including the use of social media for outputs on major incidents,” he says.

When an incident such as a chemical attack happens, having a communications plan is important, says Imad Mouline, chief technology officer at multi-model emergency messaging platform Everbridge. “You need to understand as quickly as possible what the context may be. Is there a set of circumstances, such as demonstrations in the area; is traffic bad at that moment; what’s the weather going to be like? If so, calling for an evacuation might not result in what you had initially planned for.”

Knowing this, says Mouline, allows people to “refine the plan and decide what it looks like. It’s [about] knowing what’s happened, as well as bringing together contextual data along with social media feeds and other information such as where the hospital is.”

The next step is to identify and locate the appropriate stakeholders, says Mouline. “The most important thing isn’t the victims. It’s who are the responders? What does the command and control look like? This is important or there could be chaos.”

As part of its functionality, Everbridge can set up ‘incident zones’, which are virtual boundaries, drawn around a critical event using GPS data in order to trigger automated notifications and alerts when a device enters the area in question. Mouline explains: “We can keep these active for several hours if someone leaves and comes back into an incident zone or follow up to ensure they go get treated at a hospital.”

The idea is for information to be available to the appropriate stakeholders, depending on any given situation. “You want to give the public instructions on evacuations, and to tell them to go to the nearest hospital to get checked for after-effects,” says Mouline. “You also want first-responders to know, by creating what are known as ‘muster lists’, who has been evacuated and who is unaccounted for.”

According to Mouline, some countries use a location-based alerting system. “In places like Norway or Sweden, if there is an issue with a chemical spill, responders can see this on a map,” says Mouline. “It connects with the cell tower in that area and sends appropriate instructions.”

The system, known as Cell Broadcast, is a one-way communication that allows messages to be broadcast to all mobile handsets and similar devices within a designated geographical area. The broadcast range can be varied, from a single cell to the entire network. SMS messages are sent pointto-point, but Cell Broadcast messages are sent point-to-area.

This means that one message can reach a huge number of terminals at once.

Air-quality monitoring would also be used during and following a major event. As part of this, aircraft owned by governments are able to detect and identify chemicals.

36

“Technology can quickly help to analyse at a granular level of detail everything that happened during an event”

For example, in the US, this is done by the US National Nuclear Security Administration’s Aerial Measuring System, which has specialised airborne radiation detection capability to provide real-time measurements of low levels of air and ground contamination.

Plans are also in place to detect dangerous substances entering a public area.

Jamal Elmellas, CTO at Auriga Consulting, says his company worked on a project called RAD, a UK and German government scheme that included radiological sensors across the Olympic Park during the lead up to the 2012 Games. “This allowed the security guards to have a sensor in their belt so when they patted people down on entry to the Olympics, they got a radioactive signature. They could use a mobile chemical assessment suite to identify anything that they found.”

Elmellas says a Home Office project is now doing the same thing for UK borders and ports. “This is to stop radiological attacks and would have picked up

December 2018 | www.bapco.org.uk | Twitter: @BritishAPCO

Adobe Stock/Christian Adobe Stock/Rosengaard

Adobe Stock/blvdone

WHAT IF

polonium-210.” In addition, Elmellas says CCTV could be used to help identify the perpetrators of an attack. In the future, he says facial recognition could be applied to recognise criminals quickly, if used in the right way without impacting civil liberties. “If we could upload the faces of criminals, it would be extremely useful,” he adds.

This is in addition to automatic number plate recognition, which is already in use.

“This can be leveraged if we have a largescale chemical attack,” Elmellas says. “It would show us who has been moving around and whom a vehicle belongs to.”

But currently, humans are needed to view the CCTV footage after an incident. Ingram says following the Salisbury attack, the CCTV was scrutinised by the Metropolitan Police’s ‘super recogniser’ programme. “They are called ‘super recognisers’ and have the unique ability to identify faces,” says Ingram.

He adds: “We are seeing trials of facial recognition – it’s getting better, but there’s a long way to go.”

Twitter: @BritishAPCO | www.bapco.org.uk | December 2018

Identifying the perpetrators would take place alongside an analysis step after the event.

According to Mouline, organisations don’t spend enough time on this. He emphasises the importance of an after-action review to improve response. “For example, is there a way to reduce or eliminate casualties?”

Technology can quickly help to analyse at a granular level of detail everything that happened during the event, says Mouline.

For instance: “How long did it take to work out the issue?

How long to locate teams? Did we go through all the tasks that the plan called for? Did the incident response team have to dynamically update the plan? Then we can ask how many incidents like this have we had in the past – and whether we have improved our response.”

The plans are in place, but Ingram questions how an area would deal with a period of long-term contamination. “There is a lot of thinking done about this but not enough practical solutions, so the City of London could be closed down by one or two devices going off in an uncontrolled way,” he says.

Therefore, he adds, the idea is to stop an attack before it actually takes place.

The idea of such an attack is sobering, but the response is ready. Data from multiple sources, combined with communications technology, would be key to dealing with any chemical incident as quickly and efficiently as possible.

37

AFTER WORD

That is the question

BAPCO chief executive Ian Thompson ruminates on some missed opportunities at Newcastle, while looking ahead to the coming new year

Why should you become a member?

British APCO provides an active information exchange between all those engaged in the use and provision of public safety control rooms and communications.

British APCO membership provides you with: A sector magazine – the British APCO Journal – four times per year.

Free entry at all of our annual and regional information exchange and conferencing events.

Regular newsletter updates on recent developments surrounding the association and the public safety world.

Sign-in to the ‘Members’ area of the BAPCO website.This will give access to presentations and full details of our project work and other relevant information.

A unique opportunity to network with other professionals engaged in this critically important facet of the work of the public safety and resilience services.

T

he BAPCO Satellite Event in Newcastle has come and gone since I last wrote, bringing with it – among other things – some valuable updates about the progress of the Emergency Services Network.

While we were incredibly pleased at the level of attendance at the ESN sessions in Newcastle (for more information on these, see the report on page 30 of this issue), I was slightly bemused at the lack of questions from the floor on this occasion.

There are so many things unresolved about the programme, around technology, coverage and so on, and while many “While we were concerns were voiced during separate networking incredibly pleased sessions, none were offered in the public forums. at the level of This was an opportunity missed, I think. attendance at As ever, with another successful two days the ESN sessions, in Newcastle accomplished, we now begin the countdown to our main show taking place in I was slightly Coventry in March. As many of you will know, as bemused by the part of this we are also hosting TCCA’s Critical lack of questions Communications Europe (CCE) event. The from the floor” programme is almost full, and looks incredibly exciting.

As part of that, I’m pleased to say that we will be joined at the event by Bryan Clark, programme director for ESN. He will give one of the keynote addresses when he updates us on the latest state of play for this important programme.

As well as the conference programme and exhibition, meanwhile, we will also have a new feature this year – our Drone Zone. We are still in the planning stage, but expect to see demonstrations of this latest technology in their own part of the exhibition floor.

Finally, we are also pleased to once again be a supporter of the Control Room Awards, as arranged by one of our BAPCO Platinum Corporate partners, APD. This was a great event when it was run for the first time 12 months ago, culminating in a marvellous awards dinner in March. This time promises to be bigger and better, and I’m proud to be one of the judges. Nominations are open now. Please spread the word to make others aware of this great initiative.

Ian Thompson Chief executive, BAPCO 38

Twitter: @BritishAPCO | www.bapco.org.uk | December 2018

The Annual Event

EUROPE 2019

2019

12 - 13 MARCH 2019 RICOH ARENA, COVENTRY

TWO EVENTS ONE LOCATION REGISTER NOW

www.bapco-show.co.uk/register

Reasons to Attend

New for 2019

Bringing together the BAPCO and TCCA events creates an unrivalled opportunity for all those involved in the sector to come together in the UK to network, learn and discuss everything to do with critical communications and public safety solutions.

Drone Zone

The 2019 event is the must-attend annual event for those involved in public safety communications and will enable them to: •

Network with the communication industry's biggest suppliers

•

Compare and source new comms methods, products and services

•

Receive free expert advice on the implementation and management of equipment and technologies

•

Attend best-practice workshops and pose questions to the experts at the industry's forefront

•

Learn how to increase service efficiency and reduce costs

•

Do business, make new contacts, and place orders face-to-face

Showcase Theatre

Our Sponsors PLatinum Sponsor @BAPCOEvent @CritCommsSeries Gold Sponsors

Silver Sponsors

BAPCO Annual Conference and Exhibition TCCA Critical Communications Series www.bapco-show.co.uk www.critical-communications-world.com

ENHANCING THE SAFETY OF YOUR FRONTLINE A mission-critical radio for your officers that keeps them safe today and well into the future. The MTP6650 TETRA portable radio enhances frontline safety.

Hear and be heard with loud and clear audio. Reduce incident response times with the radio’s accurate Global Navigation Satellite System.

Extend operational range with enhanced coverage to help officers stay connected in buildings or remote areas.

Procure through the Police ICT National Airwave Terminal Framework.

Find out more about the MTP6650 www.motorolasolutions.com/uktetra

MOTOROLA, MOTO, MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS and the Stylized M Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Motorola Trademark Holdings, LLC and are used under license.

All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Š2018 Motorola Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. 10-2018