Line-ups go virtual

West Yorkshire Police has chosen GlassHouse Technologies to support VIPER (Video Identification Parade Electronically Recorded), its digital line-up system.

GlassHouse will deliver a two phase project that will allow the constabulary to handle the increasing amount of data that it has to analyse and backup.

Before electronic line-ups became available the average cost of mounting a line-up cost approximately £750 to £1,250 and typically took six to ten weeks to set up. The VIPER system has enabled West Yorkshire Police to carry out more than 18,000 electronic line-ups since April 2002. This equates to a saving to central government of £37m.

The first phase of the project will deliver a storage and backup solution for West Yorkshire Police’s disaster and recovery site. This will give all year round access to the VIPER data that is used by 31 forces across the country. The second phase will be to deliver an outsourced backup system for the entire VIPER system.

The contract with GlassHouse will ensure that the forces backup and recovery systems are running efficiently. The service includes remote monitoring from one of GlassHouse’s Service Operations Centres.

“The project was groundbreaking stuff for the police service and the support of a company experienced in complex storage and backup networks was crucial to its success and continuity. 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,” said West Yorkshire Police Detective Superintendent and Head of Scientific Support Michael Fickling.