PORTFOLIO: JUSTICE
In this section: 54 Police IT systems | 55 Restriction of alcohol advertising | 56 News digest | Beyond the headlines: cannabis
Taking command
Rory Cahill looks at how a new IT system for our police is set to drastically change the way our forces operate
Y
ou’re on the M8 heading out of into the reality of day to day police life?
Edinburgh when you see a car be- How does the average experience of an
ing driven wildly and extremely fast in officer relate to command and control
your rear-view mirror. As it speeds past, systems?
you note to your alarm there is a small “It is about how you record incidents
child strapped into a baby seat in the being reported to you, how do you man-
back. You do the right thing and call age those incidents being reported to you,
999, reporting the car’s registration, how do you dispatch resources and cap-
colour and make. ture the incident information. If it was,
But what happens next? As it stands, for instance, someone tripping up on a
the 999 controller will patch through footpath and breaking their ankle, and
to controllers at Lothian and Borders the police would attend there, we would
Police, who will assess the situation, record things like what time did we get
determine the level of resources needed the call, what time did we dispatch, what
to deal with the situation, and dispatch time did they arrive there, who was the
said resources – cars and officers – as final figure on costs – on a new computer person that was injured, who were the
required. The speeding car continues system? Wouldn’t the money be better witnesses, how long did it take, were they
down the M8 and past Harthill, into spent putting even more officers on the conveyed to hospital, was it confirmed as
Strathclyde Police territory. Now what street? a broken ankle, so you’ve got a summary
happens? Do the Lothian and Borders “This technology is absolutely essen- of the incident.
officers continue the pursuit? Do they tial to enable the bobby on the beat to be “But what we also get from that very
still have control of the situation? Can effective in carrying out his or her daily importantly is management information,
the Lothian and Borders control room duties. It is needed as much as the early performance information – how quick
smoothly and effectively hand command constable’s notebook and pencil. This did we dispatch, how quick did we arrive
of the incident over to Strathclyde? allows us to understand and research the there?” says Halpin.
As it stands, the two forces will liaise information we do have so we can iden- Explained in layman’s terms like
and the incident will be dealt with. But tify what we need to know to be effec- this, the benefits of having an improved
there will be avoidable delays in dispatch- tive,” says Halpin. system are obvious. And Halpin says not
ing and co-ordinating the response. This He continues: only will the system be better, it will be
isn’t the fault of the officers responsible,
T
null
his
“The journey that we are on is one world’s best practice.
but rather the legacy of Scottish policing
technology .
where we are developing and implant- “Through suppliers and business
being based in eight distinct force areas. . . is needed ing a common national infrastructure contacts and staff, our professional con-
Eight forces mean eight different pro-
as much as
for data with data centres which enables tacts, we are always benchmarking best
curement methods and decisions and as
the early
us eventually to share data and under- practice and I believe we are leading the
such, eight different, and not interlock-
constable’s
stand what information we have. And a way internationally.”
ing, IT ‘command control’ systems. common command and control system This will please the Government,
All this is changing. The eight forces,
notebook
consolidated for the whole of Scotland, which is conducting an independent
along with the Scottish Police Services
and pencil
where forces can have transparency of review of policing in Scotland.
Authority (SPSA), are working to imple- resource availability, and deployment In fact, Halpin says, the command
ment a common command and control
system across the country. The Associa-
null
and incident management under sound and control project will help inform the
business principles and governance. review as it looks for ways in which polic-
tion of Chief Police Officers in Scotland “That means, for instance, a very ing can be streamlined and improved:
(ACPOS) has appointed Lothian and significant national event like G8 where “The Government’s current inde-
Borders Police Temporary Chief Con- we had the whole Scottish police ser- pendent review of policing is sited on
stable Tom Halpin to oversee the proj- vice mobilised, we have an ability to co- these developments and the lessons we
ect. ordinate that in a way we’ve never had are learning on something as focused as
At a time when government spend- before or been able to do on one system conversion command and control, [and
ing is tight, and getting tighter, why are before.” these] are lessons that can be learned for
we spending millions of pounds – with That all sounds well and good, albeit collaboration and joint working across
final contracts with suppliers yet to be a bit managerial. How do ‘sound busi- the whole service and other areas of
signed, Halpin says he cannot provide a ness principles and governance’ translate police work.
54
| 17 November 2008 | Holyrood magazine | www.holyrood.com |
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