Staffordshire Police plans major overhaul of its IT

Staffordshire’s police and crime commissioner (PCC) is planning a £23 million transformation of Staffordshire Police’s IT infrastructure.

In particular, the programme aims to provide the force with the capability to address the changing nature of crime, such as cybercrime and online child sexual exploitation, and improve information and intelligence handling, as well as enabling greater collaboration or integrated working across agencies.

PCC Matthew Ellis plans to fund the investment through a combination of borrowing and savings from efficiency measures, such as disposing of police assets.

The details are included in the PCC’s draft budget for the next financial year. The report highlights that the existing police IT infrastructure is “poor and requires very significant investment to provide the necessary hardware infrastructure, software operating systems, devices and equipment to enable the police to meet the challenges of 21st century policing”.

The technology overhaul will reduce the number of different force systems by more than 400 to around 40.

The initial phase of the ‘transformation’ programme will see around 1,000 officers equipped with mobile tablets by April as part of a £1 million investment to increase police visibility.