Nina’s story
IT and Communications based solutions are constantly being developed to enable police forces to deliver results against key operational issues and targets. For example, accountability, counter terrorism, community engagement, financial savings, operational efficiency and resilience, as well as information access and sharing.
It’s critical for these solutions to be operationally robust and that they can be used singly or in combination to meet the challenges of real life UK Policing. As an example of how that can happen, we’ve outlined a fictional scenario showing how a number of BT innovations can work together to deliver real policing benefits, engaging more effectively across community, cultural and language boundaries.
For further details on this story, please go to:
http://www.govnet.co.uk/justice/Community_Police_Ninas_Story.pdf
Sustainability whitepaper
Life was challenging enough when you only had to balance functionality against cost in order to procure technology solutions. Now you have to factor in sustainability as well.
And you must do so in the face of budgetary cuts, continually stretching targets and continuously rising citizen expectations.
Are you being asked to accomplish the impossible? BT doesn’t think so. However, getting to where you need to be in sustainability terms certainly won’t be easy. BT can bring hard-won practitioner experience and business pragmatism to this challenge.
For further details on this story, please go to:
http://www.govnet.co.uk/justice/BT_White_Paper.pdf
The Code List Management Service (CLMS) was developed by NPIA to better manage data standards and speed up the building and linking together of database applications, allowing it to manage, maintain and publish its own data standards.
Now NPIA believes CLMS has the potential for wider use by other organisations and is therefore looking for a third party to manage and run it as a commercial service.
Such a process has to be in line with the Treasury's Wider Markets Initiative, which enables Government departments to develop and sell new goods and services.
"The NPIA is proud to have developed this system on behalf of the police service and to be leading the way in bringing innovative solutions to government and the private sector,” NPIA CIO Richard Earland said.
“CLMS advances the government's agenda for better common data standards by providing a service for distributing data more efficiently,” he added.
Outlay on external consultancy by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) was successfully slashed from £10.5m in 2008-09 compared to £20.7m the previous year. The data comes from a Parliamentary written answer detailing expenditure following the setting up of the MoJ in 2007, mainly from Accenture's work creating the MoJ's new Libra electronic case management system.
Lord Bach, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Ministry, also said in the written answer that Libra “has led to a reduction in duplication of work and has enhanced services to court users, improving scheduling and monitoring of cases”. This has been mainly through integration and better sharing of information between the courts and criminal justice organisations such the police, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and the Office of Criminal Justice Reform, he claimed.
Source: Public Technology.Net
IT experts have disconnected Greater Manchester Police (GMP) from a national criminal database for more than three days after their system contracted the computer virus Conficker.
The virus was detected last Friday and rapidly spread throughout the force leading to the decision to cut access to the PNC. The closure means officers have been asking neighbouring forces to carry out national checks on names and vehicles on thier behalf.
The conficker virus is a malicious worm believed to have infected up to 15 million computers around the world and can be spread via portable devices such as memory sticks.
Assistant Chief Constable Dave Thompson said the virus was not destructive and no data had been lost. "A team of experts is now working on removing the virus, and will not reconnect until we are sure there is no further threat," he said. "We have systems in place to ensure this does not affect our service to the communities of Greater Manchester. "At this stage it is not clear where the virus has come from but we are investigating how this has happened and will be taking steps to prevent this from happening again."
Conficker initially worked by exploiting a vulnerability in the Windows Server service, which Microsoft combated with a security update.
On 9 June 2010, over 350 senior delegates from the criminal justice sector will gather for the Modernising Justice through IT conference. Modernising Justice throughIT is the UK’s premier conference for those involved in harnessing technology to create a more efficient, streamlined and joined-up criminal justice system to protect the public and reduce re-offending. Throughout the day plenary speakers will be discussing a variety of topics from next generation hardware to data and system security.
Source:
BBC News
A unit launched this month will allow police and juries to visualise crime scenes without having to go there. The Scottish Police Services Authority will explain how a crime took place through animation and 3D reconstructions, using similar technology to that found in computer games and the film industry.
The technology has already been used in some high-profile cases; however, it will be rolled out nationwide next week. The technology, developed by the SPSA's multimedia forensic unit in Glasgow, can make complex situations more understandable while virtual models can be created of a body to show how specific injuries were caused.
The technology is said to reduce the need for lengthy descriptions and testimonies given in court and should improve the explanation of evidence for jurors.
Source: BBC News
A government White Paper says forces should pool resources in forensic work and procurement to save money. The projected savings include £400m on IT efficiencies and £75m on administrative costs. The paper spells out how the police will be expected to save £100m next year, rising to £545m annually by 2014. This would represent about 5% of the total government grant police receive.
The white paper comes as a report revealed officers are spending no more time on the beat than they were two years ago. Former Police Federation chief Jan Berry - who prepared the Home Office-commissioned report - said patrol officers had told her that problems with bureaucracy may have worsened with many of the 27,000 hand-held computers given to officers to cut down on paperwork being in-effective as they lacked the right programs.
Jan Berry will be discussing the ways in which embracing technology can help to reduce bureaucracy in policing at this year’s Modernising Justice Through IT conference taking place on Wednesday June 9th 2010 at the QEII conference centre in London.
Source: BBC News
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