MPS signs mobile services deal

The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has signed a framework agreement for mobile communications services with Vodafone.

The four-year deal will also involve the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) and will be available to other police services around the country.

The new framework agreement will make it simpler and more cost-effective for the MPS and other UK police forces to procure and benefit from mobile technology.

Vodafone will continue to support the MPS’s network of mobiles in addition to now managing some of its BlackBerrys.

The move is particularly significant as the agreement with the MPS forms the new mobile technology National Police Framework Agreement, which will cover any UK police forces that wish to participate. The framework covers the procurement of mobile communications technology and offers UK police forces cost-efficient mobile services.

Peter Kelly, enterprise director at Vodafone UK, said the agreement will allow the MPS and other UK police forces to exploit opportunities to use communications technology to improve productivity, drive efficiencies and reduce costs.”

The MPS is also extending its integrated communications control system (ICCS) to provide extra capacity for 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Over the next 12 months, Frequentis AG will work with its partners to expand the ICCS and extend the MPS’s CCTV capability, increasing accessibility to existing hardware. Further enhancements will include connection to the Airwave public safety radio network via new Vortex ports and a re-designed graphical user interface (GUI) incorporating additional camera information and map control for camera selection. 

The MPS’s ICCS has been operational since February 2006.

Frequentis is also working with technology services company telent for the delivery of the MPS’s automated personnel location system (APLS), which can report on the location and status of every operational officer.