West Midlands Police saves over £1m with electronic case files

West Midlands Police (WMP) is the second UK police force to successfully implement a two-way interface (TWIF) with the Crown Prosecution Service’s (CPS) case management system, supporting the delivery of electronic case files. Developed by STL Technologies the TWIF between the WMP and CPS case management systems went live three months ahead of the CPS’ interim target of April 2012.

In addition to the major process efficiencies TWIF delivers, significant savings are expected.

Chief Superintendent Steve Anderson, head of the Criminal Justice Unit at WMP, explained: “In just a few weeks, TWIF has already afforded us great benefits – it breaks the reliance on paper so that the CPS can update cases and make requests to our offices for specific tasks.

“We predict around £3/4 million per annum of cashable savings to the organisation and a further £1/2 million in non-cashable savings by spring-boarding into a broader paperless world.”

All CPS case file memos, action plans and charging decisions are returned directly to ICIS, STL Technologies’ case and custody system used by WMP. This allows both officers and prosecutors to exchange information about defendants, witness and victims quickly and effectively. The CPS can also send case study updates to WMP reducing the amount of unnecessary file work in the event of an unexpected guilty plea.

Richard Perkins, sales and marketing manager at STL Technologies, added: “We’re delighted that our case and custody application ICIS was behind the first two UK police forces to successfully deliver true digital working. This is a testament to our knowledge and expertise in criminal justice which is second to none. Our track record shows that we can deliver a timely and very cost-effective TWIF solution to all UK forces whatever their current position.”

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) was the first force to fully implement true digital working with e-case files. GMP has been moving towards a digital working environment since 2002, and the ICIS custody management and case file build system from STL Technologies has enabled all the associated documentation for a case to be captured electronically. As long ago as 2008, ICIS started successfully sending pre-charge, post-charge and summons electronically to the CPS. In November 2011, the ICIS two-way interface (TWIF) with the CPS went live, five months ahead of schedule and exchanged over 30,000 messages in the first week.

Electronic case files are central to the CPS’ ‘Transformation Through Technology’ (T3) programme that aims to link police and CPS computer systems to allow information to be shared automatically, end wasteful practices of photocopying, faxing and re-keying paper records and to make case files available at the click of a button.