Police officers and staff have been issued with new guidelines to standardise the way information is managed, the Home Office has announced.

The guidance supports the Management of Police Information (MoPI) Code of Practice which came in to effect in November 2005 and was a key recommendation of Sir Michael Bichard's report on the Soham murders.

Police Minister Hazel Blears said: ‘I am delighted that another of Sir Michael Bichard's recommendations is being delivered through MoPI and its comprehensive guidelines.

‘A consistent set of standards for the way police forces manage information will play a vital role in boosting effective policing at a local and national level. This will increase public protection and help create safer communities.’

The Home Office said the MoPI and its guidelines will 'maximise the effectiveness and efficiency of the IMPACT Nominal Index (INI)' - a computer system which allows forces to share information on suspects.

The guidance applies to all 43 police forces in England and Wales and covers:
1 The purpose and process for managing police information;
2 Collection of police information;
3 Recording of police information;
4 Evaluation of and actioning of police information;
5 Information sharing; and
6 Review, retention and disposal.

Bedfordshire Police Pilots 'Chronicle' Software

Bedfordshire Police is one of five forces trialling technology aimed at reducing paperwork for firearms trainers.

The firearms training unit is piloting computer software called 'Chronicle', which records, stores and recalls all the data relating to individual firearms officers at the touch of a button.

Chronicle, designed by a former firearms instructor, allows a single comprehensive record of each officer - whether constable or commander - and all his or her scores on training shoots, fitness tests, specialist disciplines such as VIP protection or hostage rescue.

It shows compliance with the national firearms curriculum, logs the granting of authorities for specific firearms operations, and simplifies post-incident procedure as records are in one easily- accessible place. It also has an audit trail so that all the information entered is tagged with the users name and the date of entry.

Head of Bedfordshire Police Firearms Training Department, Sgt Keith Tierney, said: 'What's good about this system is that we will have all our information on each officer, and the firearms commanders, in one place that will be easy to research.

'It will actually save us quite a lot of time. I didn't want to get involved with something that was actually going to cause the department more work or be a waste of time and money because it was too complicated to bother using.'

Now most of the pilot schemes have reported back, Chronicle should be available to other forces in the near future.

PITO to Implement Anite’s National ANPR System

The Police Information Technology Organisation is implementing a national Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system linking all 43 police forces in England and Wales.

The system, being developed by Anite, will be completed in June 2006 and will tell police officers within four seconds whether a vehicle is uninsured, has been stolen, is known to have been involved in a crime, or is under surveillance.

In 2001 only the Metropolitan Police Service had specialist ANPR vehicles that could be set up at the roadside and deployed to monitor high profile events. However, with widespread interest in monitoring vehicles on Britain's crowded roads, the Home Office wanted all 43 forces in England and Wales to have such a capability and for this to be linked to a central facility within each force to manage the data.

The new system will use thousands of cameras on fixed poles or in mobile police vans on all major highways, key back roads and vital intersections across the UK. Each of the system's cameras, backed up by computers that read numbers from their images, can monitor 3,600 license plates per hour. This information is immediately cross-referenced with a police database of plates registered to people suspected of breaking the law. The database is also linked to the DVLA and Motor Insurance databases. This allows officers to identify vehicles that are not registered, taxed, insured or are without a valid MOT.

John Dean, ACPO national ANPR coordinator, said: 'Anite has played an important role in our ANPR trials, resulting in a major increase in the average number of arrests per officer by up to a factor of 10. The ANPR system will revolutionise policing. Our aim is to deny criminals the use of the roads.'

The architecture has become the standard for the Association of Chief Police Officers' (ACPO) national strategy for England and Wales. As a minimum, all forces will have mobile ANPR and the associated back-office systems, providing a secure data centre to monitor the intelligence gathered from the UK's roads. The majority of forces will extend their ANPR capability with in-vehicle systems, designated fixed ANPR cameras, CCTV linked systems and transportable systems. All ANPR systems will be connected and integrated by Anite to ensure that data is centrally managed and stored, providing an informed and secure process for making fast and effective decisions.

Lee Hendricks, managing director of Secure Information Solutions at Anite, said: 'People have the right to live in a safe and secure society and surveillance technology is one of the most successful tools in the police services' arsenal. It enables them to act on real-time intelligence to ensure police attention is focused where it is most needed.'

Compelson Laboratories Launches MOBILedit! Forensic 2.0

Compelson Laboratories has released its latest mobile phone forensic software.

MOBILedit! Forensic 2.0 collects all possible data from mobile phones and generates extensive reports onto a PC that can be stored or printed.

The phone is connected to the software via Bluetooth, infrared, or cable which then does a complete analysis of the phone including its phonebook, last dialled numbers, missed calls, received calls, MMS messages, SMS messages, photos, videos, files, phone details, calendar, notes, tasks, and much more. The SIM can be analysed directly through a SIM card reader which also reads deleted messages.

MOBILedit! Forensic can generate reports in any language. MOBILedit! Forensic also allows for XML export so you can connect the application with other systems. The XSL module exports and nicely formats all data in the package to an internet browser. You can burn, send and share the report as needed.

MOBILedit! Forensic reports can be created without the touch of a human hand. While there is no need to import or export stubs of data from SIMs or phones, it is possible in manual investigation mode.

MOBILedit! Forensic is read-only so it prevents changes in the device, which could mean the disappearance of evidence. All items are also protected against later modifications by MD5 hash codes used in digital signatures. It helps you to quickly locate the possible place of modification.

The following features have been added to version 2.0.
* Symbian support
* trial version of CDMA phones support
* Unblock SIM card through reader
* calendar, tasks, notes
* new investigation report templates prepared by UK law enforcement
* hex dump
* new printer friendly outputs

Motorola and Hong Kong Police Complete Transition to CC3

Motorola and Hong Kong Police have successfully completed their transition to third-generation Command and Control Communications System

CC3 is an Internet Protocol system based on the digital TETRA trunking radio standard, enabling more reliable routing capabilities, improved voice quality and the ability to track callers and mobilise officers in the field more efficiently. The system also provides enhanced security features such as encryption and authentication of users to prevent eavesdropping by criminal elements.

Highways Agency Launches New Website

The Highways Agency has launched its new website: www.highways.gov.uk. The revamped site, built by RedDot partner CDS, is expected to save the organisation £600,000 in operating costs over a 3 year period, as well as delivering critical real time information on England's major road conditions including traffic headlines, weather forecasts and email alerts.

The new 10,000 page site replaces a website which although well-regarded, required labour intensive and expensive manual coding as changes were outsourced to an agency and often took three days to complete.

In a drive to take ownership of the site internally, and increase the speed, relevance and efficiency of its online presence, the Highways Agency reviewed over fifteen CMS systems, with ease of use its key focus.

RedDot's SmartEdit interface, as well as its browser-based design, proved a popular fit with the organisation and enabled employees to use the system with minimal technical support. Experts such as the in-house weather forecasting team have been given their own page on the site and are able to upload information directly without the help of webmasters. As a result, the site can now provide seven-days-a-week reports on England's weather and its impact on the country's highways.

Most importantly, the new site will result in considerable financial savings for the organisation, eliminating its need to work with external content coders.

'We knew that to improve efficiency, the site needed to be managed internally', explains David Behrens, Online Media Manager for The Highways Agency. 'Employees found RedDot's interface very easy to use. We wanted to allow non-web experts, such as our in house weather forecasting team, to publish material directly to the site with no technical interventions. We literally sent them an email explaining the process and now they are running their own pages with minimal support. Not only has RedDot greatly improved the speed with which information is made available, it will lead to dramatic cost savings for the organisation. We estimate that over the next three years the RedDot implementation will save the Agency £600,000 in operating costs.'

Peter Aylward, Managing Director of RedDot Solutions adds: 'The Highways Agency's story highlights the many benefits that a well run content management system can deliver. The organisation has been able to dramatically improve the way it communicates with its audience and take significant costs out of doing so at the same time.'

Web: http://www.highways.gov.uk

BlackBerrys Help Weed out False Identities

Hi-tech pocket-sized computers are helping West Yorkshire's frontline officers to identify wanted suspects who give false details out on the street.

Officers with BlackBerry handheld devices can instantly download digital mugshots of people who are already on police systems to see that the person is not who they say they are. If there is an outstanding warrant for the person it will show on the screen and the officer can access the warrant system. The use of this technology has already led to several arrests.

This latest enhancement to the force's use of BlackBerrys was introduced officers said they wanted more support on the beat.

Paul Friday, Director of the force's Information Systems, said: 'In September 2005, we conducted an internal survey to find out what else officers would like from their BlackBerry to aid them in their job. Responses from the survey revealed that officers wanted the BlackBerry to provide them with further intelligence to support street encounters.'

StreetWYSE was created by West Yorkshire Police's IT Department as a mobile version of the force's main computerised intelligence system known as West Yorkshire Search Engine (WYSE).

Besides accessing images, StreetWYSE on BlackBerry gives officers the ability to discreetly and silently use the device instead of their radio - to check other vital information on an individual they have stopped, such as whether they are known to carry weapons or be violent to police officers.

2,300 of the 2,500 force BlackBerrys are used by frontline officers. Their introduction has saved the force an estimated £8.8 million, based on the time saved by officers being able to access computer systems while on the streets which is an average of 145 hours per frontline officer per year. Training takes just a few minutes.

Future developments could see officers on the ground being able to link into traffic cameras and be notified of the approach of a stolen vehicle.

Cross Match’s ID 2500 Full Hand Scanner Installed in Snohomish County Sheriff's Office

Full hand scanners are to be installed at a US County Sheriff's office to capture and store both finger and palm prints.

Cross Match Technologies' ID 2500 full hand scanner captures the largest hand data in a digitised format, as opposed to traditional ink-on-paper methods.

Images can be captured, transmitted to a central location and/or interfaced with an Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) to help law enforcement agencies improve their identification processing.

‘As the third largest county in the State of Washington, we needed a way to organise the enormous amount of criminal information we've compiled through manual fingerprinting over the years, and improve the efficiency of our criminal booking system,’ said David Bales, Support-Services Bureau Chief for the Snohomish County Sheriff's Department. ‘After speaking with several law enforcement agencies throughout the state, we found Cross Match to be the ideal solution for us based on its proven ability to capture, store, and streamline criminal information.’

Cross Match has more than 5,000 customers worldwide, with application and solution installations in over 50 countries. Cross Match has been recognised as an Inc. 500 recipient, one of the ‘10 Hot Private Properties’ in Forbes Midas list, and the company received several industry trade awards including BiometriTech's ‘Product of the Year’ for two consecutive years.

Cross Match Technologies is based in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, with offices and manufacturing operations in North America and Germany.

Nexidia ESI 6.0 - Faster Than the Spoken Word

Nexidia's Enterprise Speech Intelligence (ESI) 6.0 now indexes recorded audio 63 times faster than the spoken word, increasing its ability to make large volumes of audio searchable in the most computationally efficient way, according to the company.

Audio search speed is now 120,000 times faster than the spoken word.
Nexidia ESI 6.0 also has Forensic Search option that allows both power users and casual users to quickly and easily ad-hoc search large sets of audio.

Forensic Search enables the system to 'learn' search patterns within the organisation and intelligently tune and adapt the application, resulting in highly optimised searches and results.

‘The newest version of Nexidia ESI 'one-ups' itself as the fastest, most accurate solution available today,’ said John Willcutts, president and CEO of Nexidia.

‘It opens up the vast and growing world of audio mining and speech analytics to both power users and casual users who can now more quickly locate information to improve performance and achieve organisational objectives.’

Nexidia ESI uses the company's award-winning, patent-pending Phonetic Search Engine (PSE) technology, which enables audio search by using phonemes - the smallest unit of human speech. The Nexidia technology supports all audio qualities and audio variances such as a speaker's age, gender, accent, language and dialect.

Searches using phoneme pattern matching are executed on all words and phrases including blended words, proper names, slang, code words, non-standard grammar patterns and ad-hoc use of different languages. Nexidia ESI 6.0 supports 19 languages and is available now.

PITO Completes National Palm Searching Technology Rollout

Palm prints can be searched against a national database for the first time following the completion of a national rollout of palm searching technology by the Police Information Technology Organisation (PITO).

The capability is the first major software extension of IDENT1 - the biometric technology platform which supersedes NAFIS (National Automated Fingerprint Identification System). It will allow searching of all mainland UK records for the first time, Scotland having signed up to take the platform. The training bureau in Scotland also has access to the new Palm Searching capability.

The introduction of palm searching means that palm prints, which can account for 20 per cent of all crime scene marks, can be automatically searched for matches against a national database.

Forensic investigators have collected palm prints for over two years but national searching has not been possible until now and there have already been a number of successful palm print identifications.
Humberside Police reported 20 hits since starting to use the capability at the beginning of the month.

Richard Gallagher, Head of Fingerprint Bureau at Humberside, said: ‘We would not have been able to achieve these matches without the new palms tool as we did not have the associated finger marks to go on in each case.’

Fred Preston, Director of Identification at PITO, said: ‘We are delighted to hear that Palm Searching is already delivering real business benefits to the police. IDENT1 aims to provide fingerprint bureaux across the country with the state-of-the-art tools to help tackle the daily business of solving crime.’

The IDENT1 Service contract was awarded to Northrop Grumman Corporation in November 2004 following extensive evaluation and negotiations and work began on migrating police forces from the existing NAFIS system to IDENT1 in 2005.

A number of further initiatives already underway - including mobile fingerprint checking (LANTERN), facial imaging (FIND & FACE RECOGNITION) and video identification (NVIS) - will be able to exploit the IDENT1 platform.

Itronix's GoBook VR-1 Wins ‘Best of FOSE’ Award

Itronix's GoBook VR-1 semi-rugged notebook computer has won the ‘Best of FOSE’ award from US Government Computer News (GCN) at FOSE 2006, the annual government information technology tradeshow in Washington, D.C.

Tom Temin, executive vice president and editor in chief of PostNewsweek Tech Media, presented the award to Itronix on the FOSE show floor, explaining that innovation in technology is more important than ever, considering how many IT products have become almost indistinguishable based solely on price and specifications.

‘GCN recognises the Itronix GoBook VR-1 as innovative, an important validation of this new semi-rugged computer product for the government market,’ said Matthew Gerber, senior vice president of product line management for Itronix.

‘Mobile workers from police and fire departments, the military and employees from other government agencies can count on the VR-1 to operate reliably in harsh environments. The VR-1 is the first semi-rugged notebook that meets military specifications for temperature and vibration, and also comes with a published specification for drops. The VR-1 offers mobile workers the protection and features of a fully rugged notebook at a very competitive price.’

As with all Itronix products, the VR-1 is offered with the full suite of Itronix award winning global service and support programs.

The annual GCN Best of FOSE awards recognise the innovative and groundbreaking products and solutions in the government information technology (IT) industry. Technologies are judged and receive awards onsite at FOSE by a panel of editors, writers and technology analysts from GCN and Washington Technology, both PostNewsweek Tech Media Group publications. GCN named 13 Best of FOSE winners from a field of nearly 200 submitted products.

Anti Hate Crime Website Backed by Herts Police

An independent website that encourages the reporting of hate crime has been backed by Hertfordshire constabulary.

Silence is Not Golden aims to make it easier for those affected by homophobia and hate crime to report it. Its website – http://www.silenceisnotgolden.org - explains what is classed as a homophobic incident, why these incidents should be reported and outlines the different ways of reporting.

The website also provides advice about staying safe as well as providing links to further help organisations.

Community Engagement Officer for the constabulary Alison Begley said: ‘The Silence is Not Golden website provides helpful advice and guidance for victims of homophobic crimes and, like our Hate Crime Officers, it encourages victims to come forward so that we can take the appropriate action.’

A series of testimonials are also available which encourage the reporting of a homophobic crime.

http://www.silenceisnotgolden.org

IRIS Speeds Up Immigration for Frequent Air Travellers

Frequent air travellers can now go through passport control at Heathrow's Terminal 1 more quickly by having their iris scanned.

The Iris Recognition Immigration System (IRIS) which is already operational at Terminal 2 and 4 means registered travellers can go up to the automated barrier, look into a camera and if the system recognises them enter the UK.

The technology works by photographing a passenger's iris patterns and storing the data in a database, together with their passport details. Only those individuals who have had their details authenticated by an immigration officer are able to use the technology. As no two iris patterns are alike, the system will quickly and securely recognise each registered individual when they look into the camera.

Speaking at the launch Immigration Minister Tony McNulty said: ‘For the first time frequent travellers and non EU citizens will be able to enter the country via Terminal 1 quickly and securely by using IRIS technology.

‘With over 97 million people entering the UK in 2005, it is important that the UK remains at the forefront of the latest technology in immigration controls and the Government's commitment to project IRIS demonstrates that.

‘Secure and effective border controls are vital to safeguard our citizens against terrorism, serious and organised crime and illegal immigration, while at the same time facilitating entry for legitimate travellers.’

IRIS is part of the e-Borders programme - a partnership between the Home Office, border control, law enforcement and intelligence agencies. It will be installed at Gatwick North and South, Heathrow Terminal 3, Stansted, Birmingham and Manchester Terminals 1 and 2 during 2006.

A one-off enrolment for IRIS takes about 5 minutes and is free.

Registration is conducted by immigration staff in the departures area of the airport.

Enforsys I-3 Exchange Information Sharing Software Launched

An American company has claimed that its law enforcement information sharing software is the most powerful to be launched.

Enforsys I-3 Exchange integrates information from different systems across multiple jurisdictions, effectively transforming seemingly irrelevant and dead data into actionable intelligence.

Enforsys I-3 Exchange, created in 2004, has been deployed in a beta version over the past year and the final version went live in two U.S. counties in the fourth quarter of 2005 where the software is used to connect as many as 40 different agencies including local police departments, state police, university police, the prosecutor's office, sheriff's departments and county park police.

Information Rich and Flexible
Unlike legacy systems that limit what information can be included, Enforsys I-3 Exchange allows 100 percent of available information to be captured and accessed in real time, giving law enforcement personnel the comprehensive knowledge critical to accurate decision making and effective job performance.

In addition, I-3 Exchange addresses one of the most critical challenges with information sharing: connecting the myriad of incompatible systems in various agencies on the federal, state, county or local levels. I-3 Exchange can interpret data from a variety of sources and consolidate it onto one platform to provide unprecedented flexibility in information sharing, enabling collaboration across multiple agencies, regardless of the specific systems used.

‘Enabling law enforcement agencies to share data is critical to crime prevention and detection,’ says Vincent Tortoriello, president and co-founder of Enforsys.

‘A field interview or incident reports from neighbouring municipalities sitting on their separate databases means nothing. But brought together they can establish a pattern of behaviour about a potential criminal or terrorist. This is how information sharing can detect and prevent crime,’

Designed for Law Enforcement
Rather than being adapted from a standard database, I-3 Exchange was designed by cops for cops, so it outperforms the competition in serving the unique information needs of law enforcement officers.

System features designed with officers in mind include:
* Watch Lists - an alert system that monitors incident type, name or address in real time.

* Powerful Browse Capabilities - the system is capable of reading data from a variety of sources and across multiple-jurisdictions, and making it searchable.

* Data Analysis and Mapping Tools - intelligence software analyzes data and helps officers to ‘connect the dots’ to identify crime patterns, profiles and trends.

* Full Data Capture - data from investigative reports, narratives, suspicious activity reports, jail records and field interview cards are all included and available in real-time.

These and other capabilities help officers in the investigation and prevention of crime, and enhance officer safety. At the command level, I-3 Exchange also has the analytical ability to identify trends, patterns and events by region and/or individual or even item - such as a gun or stolen goods - so that law enforcement activities can be coordinated across jurisdictions.

‘Cost-effective, secure, highly scalable and offering users complete control, I-3 Exchange is a mission critical crime prevention and officer safety tool at all levels, from the officer on the street to the command centre,’ added Tortoriello.

Work Starts on Holmes 2020

The Police Information Technology Organisation (PITO) has begun work on scoping requirements for a replacement for HOLMES 2 - the IT application used by UK police to run serious crime investigations and casualty bureaux after major incidents.

The business case is currently being drawn up by PITO for Holmes 2020 which will replace HOLMES 2. The new system will support the service to the year 2020 with advanced functionality to reflect changes in criminality such as the drive towards full 'end to end' disciplines and processes involved in incidents such as the 7/7 London bombings.

The Holmes 2020 Executive Lead - Jon Stoddart, Chief Constable of Durham Constabulary, has approved a twin-track approach to ensure the police service is fully supported throughout the change over.

The first strategic track is to maintain and modify the existing HOLMES 2 system. Concurrently a second track of Holmes 2020 development activity is planned, commencing this year with the creation of an Outline Business Case, followed by requirement capture and then open procurement.

Jon Stoddart, Holmes 2020 Executive Lead, said: ‘The police service faces a significant challenge in handling mass fatality incidents and major investigations. It is vital IT applications that support these operations reflect the business processes, rules and procedures involved to ensure a sophisticated approach to the management of large-scale incidents in the public's interest.’

Vanessa Baxter, HOLMES 2 Project Manager at PITO, said: ‘The Holmes 2020 project presents the service with the ideal opportunity to explore alternative methods of purchase and supply to ensure local and national consistency of product versions and user practices. This will help Holmes 2020 to build on the operational success of HOLMES 2 with greater cohesion between forces using the system.’

Changes to the existing system being considered are the widening of police business for which the system will be used to incorporate serious or serial crimes, fraud and road traffic incident management and the ability to store multimedia evidence from CCTV, mobile phones etc for later use in court.

What is HOLMES 2?
HOLMES 2 is used by the UK police to run large-scale crime enquiries and casualty bureaux after major incidents. Examples of its use in high profile incidents in recent times are the Soham murders enquiry, 7/7 bombings and the Tsunami. Most forces throughout the UK will use HOLMES 2 to administrate the vast majority of their murder enquiries due to the volume and complexity of these types of enquiry.

HOLMES 2 received final accreditation in Oct 2001 and two versions have been released each year since, providing additional functionality requested by the user community. The latest being Version 9, which was accepted in May 2005. HOLMES 2 has been rolled out to every force in the UK as well as other additional central agencies. For HOLMES 2 licences, support and maintenance, forces pay supplier Unisys according to prices agreed with PITO.

A&S Uses WAP

Avon and Somerset police are using WAP technology to send maps to mobile phones warning the public of road accidents and closures.
Avon and Somerset Constabulary Internet and Multimedia Manager Scott Fulton said: 'The WAP service gives anyone with an WAP enabled or internet phone the opportunity to use our website services and access all sorts of information about the police.

'We know people want to know about road traffic collisions and road closures, so this means they can get the latest where ever they are, at what ever time of day.

'It can also be very important to know where your local police station is, especially if you are in unfamiliar surroundings or need to see a police officer urgently.

'The site will also give you information on front office opening times and the best way to get in contact with police.'

These new services add to the already wide accessibility and interactivity of the website.

Community Crime View Created by Berkeley CA

A US police department has released a new online tool that allows the public to search for and map recent crimes within the city in an effort to keep the community informed about crime.

Community Crime View, which took several years to produce, was created by the Berkeley Police Department in Californa in partnership with the city of Berkeley Information Technology Department and Berkeley community members.

The tool is a Geographical Information Systems map that allows users to search for recent crimes by the address where they occurred, the type of crime, and the time period in which they happened. Users can also search for locations such as schools, parks, police beats, or city council districts.

Berkeley police officers are being trained to use the tool so that they, too, can stay informed about incidents that occur in their beat while they are away from work.

Community Crime View can be found on the Police Department's Web site: http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/police.

Suffolk Police Implements Northgate’s NMIS

Suffolk constabulary has become the 25th force to functionally accept the National Management Information Systems (NMIS), according to Northgate Information Solution.

The system, developed by Northgate in partnership with the police, allows forces to effectively monitor and analyse police performance to enable continuous improvements in efficiency and effectiveness.

It will allow Suffolk police to:
* Produce better performance management reports more easily
* Link together various strands of police data, unlocking valuable information through broader analysis; and
* Improve policing plans and deployment strategies using information from NMIS.

Welcoming the news, Dave Meaden, Managing Director of Northgate Public Services, said: 'Information and knowledge should be core to UK policing activities. The intelligent use of information can free up resources, build on best practice and drive through performance improvement.

'Effective performance management involves understanding what has happened and managing what will happen. By taking action through analysis and feedback to proactively manage events rather than be led by them, real operational improvements can be made.'

What is NMIS?
National Management Information Systems (NMIS) is a series of data warehouses (one for each of 38 contracting forces in England and Wales plus the Home Office).
It contains information about all aspects of policing plus analysis and reporting tools so forces can:
* performance-manage resources to Policing Performance Assessment Framework (PPAF) standards
* collate management information from separate systems in a format comparable and consistent with other forces (for example, to enable most similar force comparison to manage the Public Service Agreement (PSA) 2 'performance gap' between forces)
* report statutory data (Annual Data Returns or ADRs) to the Home Office

How NMIS works
NMIS is fed via links with one or more of six core police systems within each force (known collectively as the 'National Strategy for Police Information Systems', or NSPIS). These are:
* crime and incident reporting
* custody
* command and control (C&C)
* human resources (HR)
* case preparation
* vehicle procedures and fixed penalties

Forces have different versions of these systems with different data structures, definitions and counting rules. A key requirement of NMIS is consistent, accurate data that is comparable between forces. This is achieved by transforming data extracted from each source system to a national standard known as the 'Common Data Model'.

The Police Information Technology Organisation (PITO) manages the £50m programme.

Sepura Chosen to Supply TETRA to Swedish National Police Board

Sepura has been chosen by the Swedish National Police Board to supply TETRA radio equipment to be used on RAKEL, Sweden's new national TETRA radio network.

The Swedish National Police will use over 10,000 terminals in the first phases of the national rollout, starting in April 2006, when RAKEL goes live. RAKEL replaces the country's aging analogue radio infrastructure and all of Sweden's emergency services will migrate to it over the next two to four years.

They will use the Sepura SRH3800 hand-held, which uses the most sensitive GPS receiver on the market today and gives accurate positioning, even in built-up locations.

In addition, the Swedish Police have selected Sepura's SRG3500 Mobile Gateway to provide both direct and trunked-mode communication in rural and other areas where network coverage may be unreliable, such as inside certain buildings. Users will be able to seamlessly switch between modes, allowing communications to be maintained with the control room and colleagues, regardless of the local environment.

'Sepura radios will provide the police with reliable data and voice communications in order to support their varied public safety responsibilities,' said Kenneth Hubner, Sepura's Regional Director.

'This contract marks the start of a countrywide project, as every part of the national police service in Sweden becomes TETRA-enabled.'

Mr Hubner went on to add: 'Close co-operation with SRS has been instrumental in ensuring that, very soon, police forces in Sweden will be using Sepura equipment. This is an outstanding achievement for both SRS and Sepura.'

http://www.sepura.com/

Central Scotland's Computer Crime Unit Wins BPI Award

Officers of Central Scotland's Computer Crime Unit have been awarded for their achievements by the British Phonographic Industry at a special presentation.

Popular solo artist Katie Melua presented Detective Sergeant David Nolan and Detective Constable David Ferry with accolades at a gathering in Glasgow.

Formed in January 2003, the Computer Crime Unit was set up to investigate all computer-related crimes across the force area.

It is a unique combination of police officers with forensic analysis skills and others trained to investigate all aspects of computer-related crime. The unit is the only one of its kind in Scotland.

Intelligence-led investigations have led to tens of thousands of fake goods, including counterfeit CDs and DVDs, totalling millions of pounds being seized since 2003. £10 million of fake goods were recovered in a five-day period during a multi-agency operation.

The unit works closely with the British Phonographic Industry, the Federation Against Copyright Theft and local Trading Standards officers.

Detective Sergeant David Nolan said: 'This award is dedicated to all officers in the Computer Crime Unit who have taken part in our operations.

'Great achievements have been made to tackle the very serious issue of counterfeit crime.

BPI Director of Piracy David Martin said: 'The way Central Scotland Police investigate the illegal trade in music has been recognised by the British Phonographic Industry as the way all forces in the UK should operate.

'It is a credit that such a small force can provide such startling results.'

Northgate Partners with Limerick City Council

Northgate Information Solutions has announced a partnership with Limerick City Council to help speed up the response of fire call outs.

A geographical information system for the control room of the Munster Regional Control Centre (MRCC), will be provided as part of a wider project to improve the speed of response and efficiency of fire call outs.

It will enable control room personnel to quickly obtain a visual summary of the availability of resources in an emergency, the provision of fire cover throughout Munster and any incidents already in progress.

David Meaden, Managing Director of Public Services at Northgate Information Solutions, said: 'Northgate is pleased to be helping all the fire brigades involved in the MRCC project to realise their potential and improve fire safety. Our cutting edge solution is tried and tested and will greatly assist in mobilising resources and managing emergencies.'

Gerard O'Driscoll, ICT Project Manager at Limerick City Council, said today: 'As part of the ongoing development of the MRCC project, Northgate's system is integral to service delivery. Simplifying the emergency call taking process reduces bureaucracy and enables us to provide a quicker, better service to all the communities within Munster.'

BARX Bought by Police Service of Northern Ireland

Cleaford Services Ltd, developer of specialist software to UK police forces, has announced that its BARX application has just been purchased by the Police Service of Northern Ireland, whose Dog Unit includes a Regional Dog Training School.

Originally developed in conjunction with the South East Regional Dog Training School at Guildford, BARX has to date been purchased by 10 UK police forces. Database modules are included for Dog and Handler training, Operational records, and Assessment of new dogs.

IMPACT Nominal Index

A powerful new system to share information to track and trace individuals wanted as part of criminal investigations has been launched by Home Office Police Minister Hazel Blears.

The IMPACT Nominal Index (INI) went live in December and has already thrown up a number of new leads in ongoing investigations:

• A check on the INI by police hunting for a dangerous armed robber wanted by officers since 2004 provided vital new lines of enquiry;
• In another case a person alleged to have committed an indecent assault on a 15-year-old girl was linked by the INI to an identical case in another force; and,
• One force carried out an INI check on a man acquitted of assaulting his girlfriend's eight-year-old daughter to see if he appeared likely to present a continuing risk. The system showed that the man had been linked to identical incidents in five other forces.

The INI is the first system to be delivered by the IMPACT Programme, set up to implement a number of the recommendations in Sir Michael Bichard's report following the murders of Soham schoolgirls Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells.

The INI has been developed by the IMPACT Programme, led by the Home Office in association with the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), and with technical support from the Police Information Technology Organisation (PITO).

The IMPACT Programme exists to deliver improvements in the management and sharing of police operational information.

The INI comprises an index of people whose details appear on local force IT systems. Because this information is held on local systems rather than national systems, it would not previously have been visible outside the force holding the record. For example, where the police suspect a person of being involved in a crime, but lack the evidence to prosecute, the person's details may be held on the force intelligence system. This will be invisible to any other force, so if the person moved to another force area, the local force would not be aware of any previous suspicions or reported incidents.

Now all the local force has to do is enter the name and personal details of a person they are investigating and the INI will tell them which other forces hold any information on the person. The investigating officer can then call for the record from the force holding it.

INI works using information which every force in England and Wales sends to the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) - a list of names and dates of birth of people they hold on local force records for use in CRB vetting checks. The INI accesses this information and makes it available to police forces in a form they can use in their enquiries.
The INI was delivered in partnership with Cable and Wireless plc., working with Enline plc.

The system allows officers to establish, in seconds, whether any police force anywhere else in the country holds relevant information on someone they are investigating. Previously, this information would not have been visible outside the force holding the record. Hazel Blears said:

'The ability to share information across police force boundaries is the key to effective policing at the national level.

'The INI is the first step in our plans to provide a national information sharing capability which will prevent criminals from escaping detection simply by crossing force boundaries. This will increase public protection and help create safer communities.'

Child Abuse Investigation Units (CAIU) in all 43 police forces in England and Wales have access to the INI database. It is now undergoing evaluation before being rolled out more widely, for use in child protection work and in other criminal enquiries.

Martin Goodman, Director of Public Sector at Cable & Wireless, comments: 'This represents another vital step forward in the mission to apply technology in an effective way to deliver valuable and cost efficient joined up services. We're delighted to be part of such an important project and are looking forward to expanding the service and enriching the functionality over the coming months.'

Richard Mardling, Strategic Business Director for Enline said: 'INI is a perfect example of how serious the issue of managing user identities can be so we are delighted to have contributed to the successful launch of the first element of the IMPACT Programme.'

Northgate Northumbria Safety Camera Partnership

Northgate consultancy is set to improve the speeding fine process in Northumbria.

Northgate Information Solutions have announced that it is working in partnership with Northumbria Safety Camera Partnership on an innovative project to improve the openness and efficiency of the speeding fine process.

Northgate will provide consultancy with the aim of streamlining the business processes throughout the force's fixed penalty unit and delivering greater efficiency.

Northgate will also implement its 'Public Access' software to allow individuals who have received a penalty notice for speeding to view all the evidence relating to it online and free of charge. By logging on to a secure system, people will be able to view photographs, speed and site details and the calibration certificates of the speed camera.

Ray King, Project Manager for the Northumbria Safety Camera Partnership, said: 'We are pleased to be partnering with Northgate on this project to vastly improve public access to information on speeding fines. It is important that people are given every opportunity to see that penalty notices serve a public safety purpose, and are not part of a revenue-raising exercise.

'Northgate's consultancy services will also enable us to streamline our operation, freeing up valuable staff time to provide a better service to local people.'

Dave Meaden, Managing Director of Public Services, Northgate Information Solutions, also added: 'Speeding fines are just one part of an effective road safety strategy, but it is essential to demonstrate openness and transparency in the process.

'Northgate's online penalty notice software and consultancy help to speed up the service police forces and Safety Camera Partnerships provide to the public through offering easy access to information at any time and a radical reduction in administration for back office staff.'

XHIBIT Saves Time in Court

Officers could spend more time on the beat and less time in court thanks to a new computer system.

XHIBIT, now operating at a number of courts across the UK, allows court users, such as the police, prosecutors and witness groups, to obtain necessary case details in minutes rather than days.

The £20m system updates individual court users on the progress of a case via text, email or pager. The public can also track court hearings online using the Internet or public display screens in the court building.

Constitutional Affairs Minister Rt Hon Harriet Harman QC MP said: 'Police officers will spend less time waiting at court to give evidence, and more time policing the streets.

'This technology is part of the Government's drive to take the court system into the 21st Century. It all adds up to a better deal for victims and witnesses in the court process.'

Only three per cent of police time in court is spent giving evidence which equates to £100m per annum.

XHIBIT provides case information to magistrates' courts, Witness Service, Victim Support, the police, the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) and the Crown Prosecution Service. The Police National Computer can be updated much faster and orders made by the court can be processed more quickly from this information.

Chief Inspector Police Colin Carroll of Humberside Police where the system is operating at Hull and Great Grimsby Crown Courts said: 'It will help speed up the information we receive from the Crown courts, particularly on results. We are working with the Crown court to work out which processes we can now change.

'Humberside Police currently sends information on cases electronically to both the magistrates' courts and the Crown Prosecution Service, but we are still required to send paper-based information too. XHIBIT is the next step in changing those aged processes.'

XHIBIT (eXchanging Hearing Information By Internet Technology) is being introduced into 101 Crown Court sites across England and Wales, following a pilot in 2004.

In 2004 it won a criminal justice award for innovation, presented by the Prime Minister and was runner-up in the e-Government Awards.

All Crown courtrooms in the Humber area will use XHIBIT.

Criminals 'Hi-Jacking' Corporate Identities

Criminals are 'hi-jacking' corporate identities to access bank accounts and transfer large sums of money to foreign accounts.

The City of London police said the attacks are aimed at foreign-based companies, who usually have a representative office in the United Kingdom, and who have existing accounts with a UK Bank.

The intended victim will also usually have a 'faxed indemnity' arrangement in place with the bank. Popular targets have been foreign airlines, banking institutions and even embassies.

The criminals contact the 'Relationship Manager', at the relevant UK Bank, purporting to be the genuine client and inform them that they are changing their contact details, usually giving the excuse that a temporary move of office is necessary due to refurbishment.

A new telephone and fax number, and occasionally an e-mail address, will then be supplied to the Relationship Manager. The telephone numbers given are generally arranged in advance, via the Internet, and are able to be diverted to mobiles and 'fax to e-mail' facilities. Confirmation will usually be requested by the criminals from the bank, acknowledging the new details, and this will provide the criminals with a headed, signed fax from the bank, which can be copied and manipulated for future use against the intended victim.

At the same time, the criminals will also make contact with the Finance Director, or equivalent, of the targeted company purporting to be the Relationship Manager of the relevant UK Bank. The same, new telephone and fax contact numbers will also be provided to the company using the excuse that the Bank is experiencing computer problems or their records need updating. Again, confirmation will be requested from the company acknowledging the new contact details, and a headed, signed fax will be forwarded to the criminals which can subsequently used by the criminals in their correspondence with the Bank.

Once these steps have been taken, the criminals are then effectively in control of the direct line of communication between the Bank and its client. The criminals will then either; request that a new account be opened with the UK Bank and the company's existing overdraft facility be extended to this account or continue to forward any faxed indemnity transfer requests they receive from the victim to the Bank as normal. After a short period of time, the criminals will then fax the bank a number of high value transfer requests, from the existing or newly opened account, to recipient accounts usually based in Japan or Pakistan, resulting in substantial losses to the victims.

It is apparent that the criminals carry out 'homework' before making the approach to the bank and the intended victim, as they usually know the management structure of the target company and will use the name of the relevant Finance Director or similar in their correspondence. They will also usually know the name of the relevant Relationship Manger at the bank, to whom they need to speak.

Devon and Cornwall Fights Internet-Related Crime

Devon and Cornwall Constabulary's High Tech Crime Unit is looking to expand partnerships with internet companies in the region, in the continued battle against internet-related crime.

The unit was formed in October 2001 to examine the threat which Internet crime posed to the people of Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

After being tipped off by one such company, officers from the unit travelled to Sheffield recently to arrest a person suspected of launching a 'phishing' scam from server space rented from a small web host in North Devon.

Phishing involves sending out e-mails purporting to be from banks, credit card companies or internet auction sites with the purpose of passing over personal information such as bank account numbers, passwords and PIN numbers. This data can then be used to empty victims' bank accounts or even to steal their entire identities in order to obtain credit.

Detective Inspector Simon Snell said: 'Many small hosts and ISPs are unsure of what to do and who to contact if customers are posting inappropriate or illegal material on servers owned or leased by them.

'It is the intention of the unit to give businesses a firm point of contact and advice on what action to take in such circumstances. We also feel we can learn a lot from these companies about how the Internet works, commercially, and the problems which they face on a daily basis.'

PITO Highly Commended at e-Government Awards

The Police Information Technology Organisation (PITO) has been highly commended for the development of the Violent Offender and Sex Offender Register (ViSOR) at the e-Government awards.

The accolade was presented at a ceremony held at the Savoy in London last month where PITO was praised for delivering exceptional services to target audiences.

At the ceremony Tom McArthur, Director of Operational Services at PITO said, 'We are very proud of what ViSOR has achieved in such a short period of time in service. It is dramatically changing how the police and national offender management service work - providing a platform to effectively handle dangerous individuals across the country. Being recognised simply reiterates how crucial this system is in today's society'.

ViSOR is seen as a big step forward for public protection, providing complete and up-to-date information on the country's most dangerous offenders. The system allows forces and agencies to share information online, to reduce re-offending, protect the public and save police time.

It was launched across England, Scotland and Wales by March 2005 and extended across Northern Ireland in May. It is the first national database able to manage, track and risk assess violent offenders and sex offenders across the UK. ViSOR was conceived by Lancashire police originally, and designed and developed by users for users.

The e-Government National Awards scheme highlights excellent services which improve citizens and business transactions within councils, central government departments and other public sector organisations. PITO received the highly commended award in the 'e-Government: Other public sector body' category aimed at non-governmental or non-departmental public bodies.

Anite Implements IPCC IT Infrastructure

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has developed an IT infrastructure to share sensitive data with any force in the country without compromising individual rights.

The infrastructure has been implemented by Anite and enables the IPCC to have the processes and systems in place to ensure that they follow the correct procedures.

Steve Gediking, head of IT, IPCC, said: 'What has really impressed me about Anite is the commitment and sheer hard work they have put into our project - we have now come to expect this as the norm...I can now focus on the future of the IPCC and its overall IT strategy and direction.'

In April 2004 the IPCC took over responsibility from the Police Complaints Commission. As a start-up, it needed new information and communication systems, processes and services. Dealing solely with sensitive information it also needed the systems to be secure across multiple locations, including the provision of IT support to 450 staff, many of them remote mobile workers.

With Anite managing the IPCC IT needs, its team of experts delivered on the requirements and helped by providing:
* An IT infrastructure to support a shadow organisation in the first three months
* An IT infrastructure for HQ and four regional offices covering 450 staff
* Web and intranet communication facilities
* Business support systems including HR and Finance
* A purpose built workflow application that defined and captured the business processes
* Full responsibility for service management, single point of contact helpdesk facility, change control management and technical refresh.

The IPCC continues to lead the IT strategy and Anite handles the day-to-day running of systems, equipment and business-critical applications.

Memex's HOLMES Interrogator Used in Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester police has signed up to a system that allows officers to search over 350 cases held on HOLMES and HOLMES 2.

Memex's HOLMES Interrogator enables users to search the entire contents of HOLMES and HOLMES 2 for the first time.

The 'plug and play' approach means officers can search 20 years of investigations, without having to upgrade or transfer the information into a new system.

Searching is as simple as using Google™, say its makers and allows the police to find names, vehicles, MOs, locations and much more regardless of the spelling and where in the database the terms have been entered.

By allowing the police to search many cases at once, and cross-refer cases to identify any common links, it will save them a great deal of time and therefore money, says the company.

John Low, business development manager for law enforcement at Memex, said: 'Memex is the only one in the marketplace to provide such a tool. Our company ethos has always been that the smallest most insignificant piece of data today may be hugely important in cracking a case tomorrow.

'We recognise that data systems are fed by human beings. People make mistakes, and have differing views on how to spell common words! At Memex we aim to address the issue of data quality and cleansing through our sophisticated search tools, removing the opportunity for human error.'

HOLMES (The Home Office Large Major Enquiry System) has been in use since 1986 to record all major incidents, including serial murders, multi-million pound fraud cases and major disasters. HOLMES 2 was introduced in September 2001.

For more information on this, please contact John.low@memex.com.

Avon and Somerset Police Website Provides Third of Anti-Drugs Intelligence

An Avon and Somerset anti-drugs operation receives a third of its crime intelligence through the force's award-winning website.

Avon and Somerset Constabulary Internet and Multimedia Manager Scott Fulton said: 'We receive a tremendous amount of information and feedback from the public as well as very important intelligence, which goes towards making our communities safer.

'The force's Atrium team, fighting the use of Class A drugs on our streets, receive a third of all their intelligence through the secure contact forms on the website so it is making a real difference to those at the forefront of fighting crime.'

Three million visitors are expected to click onto Avon and Somerset police's award-winning website this year. Last year more than 2,615,000 people logged onto the site.

As well as via a PC and the Internet kiosks, the website is also available via a WAP-enabled mobile phone and by pressing the red button on SKY handsets in the local information section. The service is also available to cable television users.

For all the latest developments log on to http://www.avonandsomerset.police.uk

PITO to Develop Case for Face Recognition

Face recognition technology could be rolled out across the police service, after the Police Information Technology Organisation (PITO) was given the green light to explore its capabilities.

The Association of Chief Police Officers has told the organisation to develop a business case for the deployment of face recognition technology in all UK forces.

PITO will use its own Facial Images National Database (FIND) as the basis for a national mug shot database which is a pre-requisite to introducing face recognition technology.

Geoff Whitaker, head of Biometrics at PITO said, ‘Following the mandate from ACPO, we are in the process of assessing the ability of current face recognition technology to meet the requirements of the police service for automated identification.

‘This programme of work will ensure that we continue to be in a position to provide forces with expert advice on this and other biometric technologies.’
He said that with the deployment of FIND it is 'inevitable that the use of facial biometrics will take on greater importance in policing.'

‘As with any biometric, such as fingerprints, iris or DNA, the usefulness of facial recognition in identification is dependant on the circumstances in which it is used,’ added Mr Whitaker

‘Whilst at the present time it seems unlikely that the accuracy of automated facial recognition technology will ever match that of fingerprints, it is nevertheless a powerful tool used by each of us everyday to identify friends, colleagues and loved ones and it has a vital role to play within the investigative process.’

PITO's FIND project aims to provide a national database of facial images to which still/video facial images, marks, scars and tattoos can be stored, retrieved and shared between forces. Such images will be taken to agreed standards, linked to a person's criminal history record on the Police National Computer and used to support the identification and apprehension of persons arrested for, or convicted of, criminal offences.

The existence of FIND is expected to reduce the time taken to identify an individual and increased confidence in the just cause to detain a suspect.
PITO has recently awarded contracts to Aurora Computer Services to install the company’s eGallery product which is based on facial recognition technology from Identix and also to U.S based company Geometrix Inc for its Active-ID 3D face recognition application.

These systems, and others, will be installed at PITO's London offices and used to provide demonstrations of the technology to the police service and wider government, as well as to assess the merits of different approaches for achieving automated facial recognition.

Aurora's eGallery product can store hundreds of thousands of digital images from custody suites and can automatically templify them, thus creating a searchable database of facial images, with the ability to return the most likely matches to any enquiry image. Several police forces have already independently selected eGallery to assist with their local investigative processes, and in addition to evaluating this product. PITO will also be using it to provide demonstrations to the police service and wider government.

The Geometrix system makes use of both 3D and 2D data to improve recognition accuracy. This Identity management system uses a fusion of single or multiple biometric technologies including fingerprint, 3D and 2D face recognition, and iris to maximise the likelihood of correct identification even from poor data. The company has already deployed similar systems in US government operations and law enforcement environments for access control, prisoner processing and visitor watch list management. (see the Big Feature)

http://www.pito.org.uk

PITO Introduces New WITNESS

Joined up justice moved a step closer to reality this week with PITO's announcement of the introduction of new software to improve the Custody and Case preparation processes.

WITNESS, Lanner Group's professional simulation software technology, will give easy access to relevant cases allowing victims and witness to be regularly updated as cases unfold.

The IT-driven change programme will eventually integrate the Police Service's Custody and Case Preparation systems with the CPS's own COMPASS case management system and the Court Service's LIBRA system, which is currently in development.

The new partnership between Lanner and PITO was announced at the ACPO sponsored ‘Delivering the Police Case Management Process’ Conference in London last year.

Warwickshire Chief Constable and Chairman of The National Custody and Case Preparation Programme Board, John Burbeck, told criminal justice representatives that Lanner would work with PITO as part of the ongoing business-led change programme in the area of Custody and Case Preparation.

‘This is the start of a ten-step approach to force-wide business change and Lanners WITNESS simulation will be at the front-end of how we approach this. Forces will now be able to develop a plan for how benefits can be realised and from that, identify a business change plan’ said Mr Burbeck.

The government's ultimate objective is to deliver a joined-up CJS that will incorporate a fully automated end-to-end case management process.

Superintendent David Branfield, head of Business Change, Custody and Case Preparation for PITO said, ‘Lanner will assist us in driving the full programme roll-out including transitioning those forces currently in the NSPIS (National Strategy for Police Information System) programme into this next phase.

‘We will start with a review of 6 forces initially, complemented by a period of knowledge transfer between Lanner and PITO to bring us up to speed with WITNESS so that we can deploy it across the forces that have so far committed to the programme. Lanner will also fulfil the role of programme consultants on areas of benefit realisation’.

http://www.pito.org.uk

Itronix GoBook VR-1 Notebooks Deployed in Lewis County

Itronix Corp developers of wireless, rugged mobile computing solutions, has announced that Lewis County, Washington has purchased and deployed 60 Itronix GoBook VR-1 notebooks to support a county-wide rollout of new mobile technology for its law enforcement and public safety officers.

‘The Itronix GoBook VR-1 Notebook has enabled our law officers to shift from being radio-based, to having a mobile office in their vehicles so they can spend more time on patrol and less time processing paperwork,’ said Patti Prouty, director of Lewis County Central Services.

‘With the notebook's integrated wireless capabilities officers are now able to do work from their vehicles, such as write and print reports, which previously had to be done at department headquarters. In addition, we've incorporated the Internet, GPS, imaging and other types of applications into the patrol cars to truly make them mobile offices.’

Prouty says the VR-1 met their requirements for a laptop that was rugged enough to withstand in-vehicle conditions and extreme temperatures, had superior built-in wireless capabilities, a lighted keyboard, and a touch screen for easy input while driving.

Representing a major shift from paper to an electronic system, the new computing system allows officers to write and file reports, review maps, view a dispatch screen and see where other officers are located, look up driver's license and criminal information, and many other functions that increase their efficiency on the job. One Lewis County city estimates that with trips to and from police headquarters no longer required, officers will save about two hours a day - which is two hours that can be devoted to monitoring the neighbourhood instead of processing paperwork.

Lewis County has also deployed the system into its Community Development department, with plans to branch out into other areas of the county in need of mobile technology, such as inspections and appraisals.

Northgate System Helps West Yorks

Paperwork created by fixed penalty notices could be substantially reduced for West Yorkshire officers following the introduction of new computer software.

Northgate Information Solutions has signed a deal to deliver a 'document management system' (DMS) linked to the force's penalty notice solution, also provided by the company, to radically reduce the amount of administration required.

The intelligent recognition software scans the information and once it is validated it automatically updates Northgate's VP/FPO penalty notice solution.

The new DMS, delivered in partnership with Scomagg Ltd, can store and extract information from up to 750,000 images a year.

Officers will be able to deal more efficiently with incoming and outgoing correspondence as well as manage complete case files from their workstation and provide a full audit trail.

Northgate will also provide training for police officers in how to use the system effectively.

David Meaden, Managing Director of Public Services at Northgate Information Solutions, said: ‘We are delighted to be helping West Yorkshire Police to reduce the administrative burden on their officers.

‘To maintain public trust, it is important that the police can access information quickly and efficiently, enabling them to spend more time helping the local communities they serve.’

BTP to Deploy Ketera System

The British Transport Police has adopted a system that regulates the way its contracts are managed.

BTP will deploy US-based Ketera's 'on demand spend management solutions' to automate operations, centralise contracts and assess supplier performance against those contracts.

The system will be up and running in less than 35 days and will standardise processes and sub-processes across seven geographical areas, organising 650 general ledger accounts and cleaning up mis-categorised data to improve reporting capabilities.

‘Ketera's on demand spend management solutions will give BTP an important edge,’ said Jonathan Williamson, e-strategy consultant at BTP.

‘With Ketera's solution, we automatically get updates to new technology as it becomes available. Additionally, Ketera's responsiveness is excellent mainly because of the inherent flexibility of the company’s on demand offerings.

‘When we need a change made, Ketera handles our request immediately and will update our system within a half hour - not the response time one would expect if packaged application software had been installed.’

The Ketera Spend Analysis solution, which is an integral part of Ketera's on demand Spend Management suite, uses advanced technology that will classify spend data from various BTP sources. The solution uses a ‘closed loop’ process to ensure that no detail is overlooked, and will thereby provide an unprecedented level of visibility and control over BTP's total spend.

The Ketera Contract Management solution will enable BTP to meet three essential goals: leverage a central data repository, author contracts based on specific BTP terms and conditions, and manage the lifecycle of all contracts to assess how suppliers are performing against those contracts.

In turn, the solution will enable the organisation to be more efficient and save countless hours by automating its contract management processes.

Going forward, the Contract Management system will potentially support a total of 20 BTP users and initially host 300 contracts for the organisation.

‘We are very pleased to add British Transport Police to our rapidly growing list of global customers. Ketera's on demand contract management solution will allow the company to address the complete end-to-end supplier management process in a quick and efficient manner.’ said Steve Savignano, chairman and chief executive officer, Ketera.

http://www.ketera.com/

QinetiQ National Police Portal System

The Police Information Technology Organisation (PITO) has announced that QinetiQ, the defence technology and security company, will provide and manage the new UK National Police Portal System – www.police.uk.

The contract will run for four and half years. Tom McArthur, director of operational services at PITO, said: ‘This contract award will enable the continued development and expansion of online police services in the UK. The Police Portal plays a pivotal role supporting police forces in disseminating public information and ensuring public safety.’

Duncan Hine, managing director of QinetiQ’s Trusted Information Management Division, said: ‘The portal has an absolute requirement to be robust, secure, highly available, flexible and future-proofed. QinetiQ has proven track record of providing secure web-based applications, databases and networks that form part of the UK critical national infrastructure and that meet all of these tough demands.’

The new portal is expected to be launched in April 2006.

Sepura Wins Spanish Contract

Sepura, supplier of TETRA radios, has won a contract to supply a number of Spanish police regions.

The Municipal Police of Valladolid in the north of Spain and Municipal Police of Almeria in Andalucia have selected Sepura TETRA for their digital communications.

Both regions are using over 500 hand-held and mobile TETRA terminals.

Jens Thostrup, international sales director for Sepura, said: ‘We look forward to the wider adoption of TETRA in Spain.’

Intergraph Chosen by Surrey Police

Surrey police has chosen American-based Intergraph to supply its non-emergency contact centre with an intranet mapping system.

GeoMedia® WebMap software allows operators to locate a caller's address and then publish data from the forces databases via a map-based intranet service tied to a caller's location. Around 20 contact centre operators have around-the-clock access to the map-based information.

By having all relevant information in one map-based portal, operators can resolve many callers concerns.

Karen Morris, customer services manager for Surrey police, said: 'The staff of the Surrey Police Contact Centre are very pleased with this new tool.

'Early survey results show that, where extra information is provided to our callers, it achieves a positive effect.'

The contact centre receives an average of 130,000 calls a month

http://www.intergraph.com

First Phase of IMPACT

Essex police has been given £85,000 to kick start the first phase of IMPACT, the national intelligence-sharing system introduced following the Bichard inquiry into the Soham murders.

The cash will help fund the job of converting data held on the force's IT systems into a common format that can be accessed by forces across the service.

A total of £7m funding has been made available to support the work of the Cross Regional Information Sharing Project (CRISP) Consortium and to help police forces in England and Wales.

Chief constable, Roger Baker, said: ‘For Essex, winning this bid for funding to support local data conversion is an important milestone in the first phase of IMPACT, enabling us to demonstrate commitment to the programme at a local level.’

Phase two will be rolled out in 2006 and will link the index to existing national systems such the Violent and Sex Offenders Register (ViSOR).

In his inquiry Sir Michael Bichard criticised the lack of a police national intelligence database. Ian Huntley was convicted of the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in 2003.

http://www.abm-uk.com

GlassHouse Chosen for Viper Backup

West Yorkshire Police Force has chosen GlassHouse Technologies, an american data protection company, to provide disaster recovery, back up and storage systems for Viper, the electronic parade system.

The Viper (Video Identification Parade Electronically Recorded) system uses electronic images instead of real live people for identity parades and has helped the force carry out 18,000 line-ups since its introduction in April 2002.

Traditional line ups can take up to 10 weeks to set up, depending on the availability of look-a-likes. The company estimates Viper which is used by 31 forces has saved $64 million.

Now due to the high number of identity parades performed using Viper, and the necessity for a larger volume of data to be retained safely and made available at any time to the police, West Yorkshire force has decided to outsource the back-up, disaster recovery and back-up management to GlassHouse Technologies.

GlassHouse Technologies will now design and build the storage system for West Yorkshire Police's disaster recovery site, with an outsourced storage and back-up contract to support Viper to follow.

West Yorkshire Police detective, Michael Flickling, said: 'The achievement of a national level IT system across the country in a matter of a few months is no mean feat and has been a fine example of a public service outfit and private sector companies working together.'

Web: http://www.glasshouse.com

Magicomm Digital Pen

A digital pen is helping to cut bureaucracy for Dorset police’s crime scene investigators following a successful five-week trial.

Developed by Magicomm, the digital pen reduced the need to duplicate the inputting of scene examination reports, but also meant that information from scenes was available to the investigator within minutes of evidence being recovered.

Investigators used the pen to complete crime examination reports. Once completed, the information was then transmitted via blue tooth through a mobile telephone into Dorset’s email system.

Terry Marsden, head of scientific investigations at Dorset police, said: 'Overall, an excellent application of this technology with a lot of potential to reduce bureaucracy in many areas of police work.'

The pilot will be extended to include car crime scene investigations and full integration into the force back-end system.

http://www.magicomm.co.uk/

TETRA radio makers, Sepura, have chosen NCT’s ClearSpeech noise reduction technology for integration into its hand-held radio sets.

ClearSpeech is a suite of complex, highly refined software algorithms providing noise cancellation for human listeners, noise cancellation for voice recognition, echo cancellation and signal conditioning.

By removing background noise and voice echo, ClearSpeech is able to improve voice quality in a diverse range of communication systems.

Malcolm Quelch, Development Director for Sepura said:

'ClearSpeech technology is ideal for our radios. By removing background noise we are able to ensure that users get the clearest speech possible even in the noisiest of environments.

'This is obviously of utmost importance for the emergency service sectors where clear communications is critical.'

http://www.nctclearspeech.com