Getting smart with interactive whiteboards

Combine the simplicity of a whiteboard and the power of a computer and you get an interactive smartboard that is proving to be a valuable policing tool, not only in the routine briefing or training setting, but also at a strategic level in tactical Gold/Silver Command environments.

Five hundred people took part in a multi-agency exercise when the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) held a major forward control point (FCP) and emergency planning operation at Belfast International Airport (BIA). The results were not encouraging.
The exercise highlighted the need for substantial improvements in the airport command facilities.
That was nearly five years ago. Since then, the PSNI has introduced smartboard technology into its Silver Command suite at BIA. It provides an onsite facility for the service to manage any emergency incident and in the event of a large-scale operation, the centre acts as the main contact point for all emergency services, linking fire, ambulance and other agencies with the PNSI and the airport.
“It was found that a fully-equipped Silver Command suite at BIA could be of huge benefit to our emergency planning,” explained the officer in charge of the exercise, Inspector Michael Baird. “All the call signs for our units and detailed maps of the area are now entered into the system, so that as an exercise progresses, the Silver commander has an accurate and up-to-date picture of what is going on.”
The new technology is now an integral part of both the emergency planning and operational facilities at BIA and can be linked to other facilities at the airport, such as the rendezvous point (RVP), friends and relatives reception centre (FRRC) and the survivors reception centre (SRC), allowing joint briefings for all the agencies involved in an operation and for the Silver commander to view up-to-date pen pictures of each location at any point during an incident.

Interactive benefits
A study undertaken by research group AIMTech, part of the Leeds University Business School, to understand how interactive technology can improve emergency briefings found that it provides a faster build-up of a common operational picture, reduces instances of misunderstanding between those involved in the management of an incident and results in much faster decisions, leading to more effective containment of an incident.
The technology provides a channel for a commander to achieve this wherever they are – even if remote from the command area. The study found that smartboards increase participation, attention and the ability to capture points made in the process of a briefing and, as a result, briefings are better retained, more complete and more accurate.
The report – SmartBoard use in Policing: Intelligence Briefing and Strategic Command and Control Communications – highlighted that “this technology offers the opportunity to deliver some level of gain in the systems and people assets areas in particular – making the management integration and use of information both more resilient and more effective at the key delivery point of operational policing”.
The research was commissioned by Steljes – the UK distributor for SMART Board™ interactive whiteboards from SMART Technologies.
SMART Technologies is already working with a number of police forces across the UK. Simply by touching SMART’s interactive whiteboards, team members across multiple locations can access and control any computer application, database or multimedia source. Officers can share desktops and can write over any application in digital ink and edit in real-time, as well as saving their changes before emailing them to colleagues.
Although the technology is proving revolutionary for command and control communications, the benefits of this technology extend to many other areas of the police operation, such as:
•Training – interactive technology enables training to be delivered to more than one site at the same time. The instructor can receive instant and valuable feedback, provin