Focus on operational objectives and move away from fixing or replacing systems at the last moment police IT conference hears.

Chief Technology Officer at the Met and Chair of the National Police Technology Council, Darren Scates has said improvements and intiatives are too “tech-focused” as the police work toward digitalising the service. 

“By 2030, [I hope] we spend less time talking about tech and more time on data and insights,” he told the Police Digital Summit in Birmingham today. 

“We’re still overfocussed on the delivery vehicle, we need to move that on to data," he added.  

Jo Farrell, Durham Chief Constable and Chair of the NPCC's  Information Management & Operational Requirements Coordination Committee described data and tech as “two sides of the same coin”, saying that the service needs strength and expertise in both.

She said policing was at a pivotal point for recognising  the need to focus more on data and data quality rather than the systems that deliver it. 

Mr Scates gave the example of taking statements as simply “digitising the manual process”. 

He said that the use of body-worn video to capture statements would present legal difficulties but from a tech perspective it is a good example of the police needing to rethink how they are using services to harness potential. 

In order to do that there needed to be a focus on operational objectives and a move away from merely fixing or replacing systems at the last moment. 

Chief Information Officer with Hampshire and Thames Valley, Michael Lattanzio said: “We need to have clear benefits that have to be explained in terms of operational outcomes and they have to be understood by colleagues. 

“I don’t think we talk enough about that in terms of operational-speak. 
There’s a danger of introducing digital change over an analogue process.

“How can we use things like automation to help free up resources to get involved in some of those things that are going to add more value and drive benefits, for example?” 

Northamptonshire PCC Stephen Mold, who is also chair of the Police Digital Service (formerly the Police ICT Co) told the summit: “Officers on the streets without the right tech and connections to public, it’s like sending a naked police officer out there- it’s not a lot of use.”