Cross-border data exchange for Essex Police

Essex police have adopted the Cross-Border Exchange Interface Module from Steria in a pioneering project that will allow the force to electronically transfer incident data from its command and control function to other UK forces to most effectively deal with an incident.

This project is the first of its kind in the UK police command and control market.

The module is simple to add an existing STORM or alternative command and control system and can eliminate inefficiencies that are currently inherent in many inter-force systems. Guy Lambert, director, Public Authorities and Police Group, Steria, explains: “In the case of many police forces across the UK, incident data is passed to other forces or organisations via individual e-mails, fax, telephone or other legacy technologies. This brings with it the problem of efficiency and security. The main issue faced by forces today in sharing data is the inaccuracy of replicating, or re-keying incident data. This can compromise the accuracy and integrity of the information and negatively impact operational efficiency. Steria’s solution has harnessed technology to allow data to be transferred extremely quickly between forces to enable them to provide the best possible service to citizens.”

Steria’s Cross-Border Exchange Interface Module allows staff within Essex polices force’s Information Room to transmit incident data electronically to another police force or external agency in real time using a defined XML standard, via the dedicated police secure communications network, CJX. Steria has also developed the module to interact with other supplier software using the same XML exchange standard. As a result, Essex police will soon have the potential to pass data to over 30 UK police forces. It will also be able to pass incident data to the Highways Agency in England, which covers all major motor-ways and trunk roads.

Daniel Demonakis, IT Application Administration Manager, Essex police, said: “Cross border collaboration is the way forward for policing in the UK and entirely necessary in allowing forces to work together to take a more holistic view of an individual crime or incident and tackle it in the most effective way. The need to share mission critical incident data as it happens has never been greater and Steria’s Cross-Border Exchange Interface Module is really helping us enable this change. Steria’s work with us since 1998 and with 15 other forces in the UK providing STORM command and control capabilities means that its team is fully aware of the day-to-day demands placed on our command and control operations.”