'Chaotic' IT is hindering crime fighting new survey reveals

9 October 2018

Only half (50%) of the UK’s police officers say they can rely on the information held on their forces’ computer systems, a new survey reveals today. And just 65% are able to access a computer at work when they need to.

The findings were unveiled in the Police ICT survey of 48 forces run by Policing Insight, with input from PFEW technology lead Simon Kempton.

It paints a damning picture of growing frustration on frontline policing with outdated kit, patchy service and incompatible computer systems needlessly hindering criminal investigations and affecting officers’ ability to do their jobs.

The survey also revealed:

· Nearly two thirds (63%) were unhappy with the quality and timing of training they needed to use the equipment

· 55% were not happy with their force’s overall ICT

· only 30% felt their force invested wisely in technology

· and just 2% were completely satisfied with their ICT services

One Chief Officer from a small rural force did not see his phone and laptop as an investment, saying: “It may as well be gathering dust or stopping a table from wobbling; getting a signal is also an issue.”

Another police staff member complained of having to use up to 20 different police and external database systems, with an equal number of passwords and user names to keep track of. She added: “As far as I’m aware none of these systems are able to talk to one another”.

And a PC based on a Response team in a rural area said he was forced to return to the police station after every incident to complete updates.

The problems are particularly dire on the front line, with the majority of problems being reported from response and neighbourhood teams, as well as CID.

Mr Kempton said: “The overall picture is not a pretty one with officers trying to fight crime with out-of-date equipment which is not even compatible with the systems used in neighbouring forces.

“Procurement is also a massive issue, with millions being wasted on the wrong equipment – as one Superintendent in the survey puts it, they take years developing systems which too often fail to deliver when off the shelf products would do in 80-90% of cases right away.

“Poor training provision is another problem area, as is pointless duplication with officers forced to input the same data multiple times on separate systems. In 2018, when we are surrounded by virtual reality products, people are using driverless cars and robots are carrying out life-saving operations, this lack of joined-up functionality in policing is a disgrace.”

Mr Kempton said he was also concerned about the disparity between the way frontline officers and senior management were treated.

He said:” Policing is not 9-5, it is a 24-hour 365-day job which requires 24-hour solutions. Not only do senior officers seem to have access to better equipment, but in many cases they get their problems ironed out a lot quicker too. But that’s no good for busy Response teams at 2am who are told their IT help desk went home at 5pm.

“There are some areas of improvement, for example access to computer terminals has risen, but much more still needs to be done. Government, police and crime commissioners, chief officers and ICT providers should take heed of this survey and work together to take back the initiative from criminals who, at the moment, are one step ahead of us when it comes to technology.”

Nearly 4,000 officers of all ranks and police staff took part in the survey commissioned by police governance organisation CoPaCC.

CoPaCC CEO Bernard Rix said: “It’s clear from the survey that police ICT users aren’t always impressed with “shiny new ICT systems”.

"They are more concerned about printers that work, bandwidth that is sufficient for the systems they use, and an ICT helpline that can help to fix their problems when they need it, not just during standard office hours. Throughout the working week, not just for Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

"The comparison with last year’s survey has enabled us to see that there has been a very slight improvement, for example in providing more mobile devices. But on the whole it is still the same picture as last year, which is disappointing. More needs to be done.”

The survey sought views from both officers and police staff from forces across the UK including those of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, British Transport Police, the Civil Nuclear Constabulary and Ministry of Defence police.