Kent Police to join IT services
Kent Police is pushing ahead with plans to join its IT services with three other police forces as part of cost cutting measures which could make it the second largest IT function in the country.
Kent Police is pushing ahead with plans to join its IT services with three other police forces as part of cost cutting measures which could make it the second largest IT function in the country.
Agreement has been reached on a four-way collaboration between Kent, Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk Police forces.
Kent Police and Essex Police already have a joint IT department as part of an advanced collaboration programme covering a number of shared resources between the two forces.
The new unit, East Coast IT Services (ECIS), will comprise around 375 members of staff providing IT for more than 18,000 employees serving a total population of 4.7 million.
Economies of scale in the procurement and management of IT systems show that the more forces can work together with single systems, the greater the savings are, both in capital and revenue costs in the medium to long term.
The aim initially will be to make savings of £3-4 million over a four-year period. This will be in addition to savings of nearly £6 million already made through collaboration between Kent Police and Essex Police IT departments.
Eastern region forces are already pioneers in IT collaboration having developed Project Athena, an integrated Investigation, Intelligence and Defendant Management System. It is a leading example of joined up IT and is the foundation for further collaboration.
The National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) is promoting Athena as a `champion product` – one of a short-list of recommended products that all forces in the UK can purchase without undertaking a new and expensive procurement.
Andy Barker, director of IT for Kent and Essex Police, said: There are huge benefits to be had in joining up IT provision and services. Behind the scenes IT has always had a vital role in operational policing – giving officers and staff the tools to do the job efficiently and effectively.
Athena will directly help front-line staff to communicate better by reducing the numbers of systems holding information, ensuring officers have access to the right information to help with decision-making as well as speeding up many processes and systems.
Aligning IT functions across forces operating different processes and procedures is not a quick job, but in the longer-term, the benefits are huge, both in terms of making financial savings to protect the front line and in making our technology do more to support the demands of modern policing.