Police Mobile Data

 

 

There are as many different approaches to developing a Police mobile solution as there are Police Forces. Not all are successful, and failures are expensive.

 

 

Over the past few years, the introduction of computers into the operational policing arena has led to an increasing demand on police officers’ time in dealing with email, police reports and forms. The Government’s investigation ‘Diary of a Police Officer’ identified that 43% of an officer’s time is spent inside a police station and only 17% is spent on patrol  - with most of that patrol being in vehicles.

 

In 2005 the O’Connor Report ‘Closing the Gap’ was published and advocated wide scale Police Force mergers to deal with the so called ‘Level 2 gap’ (inter-County crime). Although the Government has now changed its policy on Force amalgamation, the issues raised in the O’Connor report will still need to be addressed by Force collaboration.

 

Also in 2005, the Home Office announced that it wants everyone to know the name of his or her local police officer, to combat crime and also to reduce the fear of crime. The requirement is for Police Forces to increase their local presence and local intelligence gathering, and to increase their visibility.

 

Despite the attempts to coordinate the actions of Force IT groups, it is still the case that Forces throughout the country operate as separate entities. While there is discussion and sharing of information and ideas, there is no real mandate for common practice. Equally, there is no common approach to the development of new solutions – even those as critical as the mobile and remote working solutions that are now so important to effective policing and officer safety.

  

Many Forces are starting new initiatives and looking more closely at collaboration. However, there are still many different approaches to the development of mobile solutions. The urgency of some of the issues (mobile working in particular), has led some Forces to engage in a technology-led rush to find a mobile solution.

 

While all Forces will (by one means or another) eventually arrive at a solution which is acceptable to themselves, the level of pain they each suffer will vary. The pain will be expressed in serious terms – not only financial as a result of investing in technology false-starts or in trying to make the wrong technology choice workable, but also in terms of management effort, force effectiveness and efficiency, workforce frustration and possibly even officer safety.

 

The only effective way to develop these new tools for modern policing is to properly evaluate User Requirements (as opposed to functional requirements) and to make technology selections on the basis of a Task and User Centric analysis, with the correct focus on the ultimate usability of systems. 

 

The Leadent approach to developing mobile solutions for the Police is based on its experience not just with the Police, but also with field force automation for the utilities, retail and other parts of the public sector. The key attributes of the approach are that it is User and Task Centric, and that where there are a wide variety of operational units for which mobile solutions might be useful, it quickly identifies those in which use of mobile solutions will provide the most benefit to the business.

 

Using structured interviews, we select operational units for detailed analysis. The focus is not on what users want, but on what they do – this is the basis for developing their requirements. The tasks of most interest are those which occupy most of their work time (frequent), and those which have to be completed correctly every time or in which there may be a personal or other risk if mistakes are made (critical).

 

ISO 9241 defines a system as ‘usable’ when –

Can use a system with

Using Leadent's clear appraoch, experience and project management skills, the Police can ensure not only that they are spending their budgets well, but that the eventual solution will meet the needs of both officers and the public.