Improving the quality of police intelligence

Criminal intelligence IT specialist ABM has launched a new intelligence input and analysis tool to help save time and improve the quality of police intelligence.

The browser-based Intelligence Wizard delivers enhanced efficiencies and performance for police services using ABM’s Information Management System (IMS) – which covers incident, crime, intelligence and property management – saving up to 50 per cent of the time taken to assess and link intelligence, leading to more effective intelligence-led policing.

Jim Mackintosh, an independent police consultant and intelligence expert who helped to develop the new tool, said: “Police forces are under greater pressure than ever to improve the efficiency of operations. The Intelligence Wizard drastically reduces the time taken to assess and link intelligence as well as improving operational effectiveness by improving the speed of response to intelligence.”

Alastair Luff, managing director of ABM, explained: “Quality information forms the backbone of intelligence-led policing and IT plays an important role in capturing, managing and analysing information, as well as sharing the resulting material country-wide.

“The increased volume of information in recent years, however, has led to backlogs of intelligence data awaiting further action, be it inputting, processing or dissemination. Compounded by police budgets and human resources coming under increasing pressure, the need to speed up the processing of intelligence is key.

“Using IMS Intelligence Wizard, the overall management of intelligence and frontline services is improved, reducing the backlog and time-lag between receiving information from members of the public and acting upon it. Furthermore, it reduces the risk of intelligence being overlooked or vital action being delayed.”

With the help of mandatory information fields, the simple intelligence input tool guides the user through the process of creating and submitting an intelligence log to the intelligence database, presenting only the most relevant information.

All intelligence logs are displayed on a workload dashboard, showing all completed and outstanding tasks, as officers can save partially completed logs to return to them later, helping to manage workflow. Using the dashboard, officers can select a particular log to assess and sanitise intelligence, automatically search the intelligence database to establish if people, vehicles, property and so on, mentioned in the intelligence already have records. New entities can be created to which logs can be linked, before the intelligence is disseminated to relevant personnel to allow appropriate action to be taken.

Rob Gilchrist, ABM’s product planning manager, added: “At a time when policing resources are under greater pressure than ever, the Intelligence Wizard provides crucial time and cost savings. It also supports elements of Jan Berry`s recently published final report on Reducing Bureaucracy in Policing, specifically with regard to reducing effort duplication and over working and applying proportionate recording standards.”