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Partners in Crime - Solving and Reassuring: A Thematic Inspection of Crime Management in Scotland
chapter 4: information technology
4.1 Scottish Police Information Strategy (SPIS)
The crime management process is underpinned by various computer applications which vary from force to force. These include incident and/or crime recording, command and control, word processing, electronic registries or records management, case processing through to other Criminal Justice Organisations using the data standards developed and agreed by ISCJIS - the Integration of Scottish Criminal Justice Information Systems Programme.
The variance in systems is an issue which is being addressed through the development of an overarching strategy for the Scottish Police Service.
In essence, the initial development of a strategy for Information Systems and Information Technology (IS/IT) in the Scottish Police Service has its roots in the practitioner group of force IT managers, who in the early 1990s became concerned that their respective forces were developing and procuring systems in an uncoordinated and ad-hoc way. They highlighted the business benefits and potential financial savings in police budgets to be achieved from greater co-operation.
The group developed an initial strategy document and in 1993 this led to Scottish Office funding for a small team to be established to take this forward, under the aegis of the ACPOS Computer Policy Sub-Committee.
Accepting that change in IT is inevitable and quite rapid, the philosophy underpinning the strategy incorporated a commitment to the use of open standards and platform-independent languages, providing for the use of the best available technology. In effect, a strategy designed to be flexible and responsive to future change in this quickly developing sector. Accordingly, a formal Scottish Police Information Strategy (SPIS) emerged which recognised:
- The value to policing of access to common data
- The uncoordinated approach taken by forces in development and procurement of IT systems supporting similar or identical functions
- The need for a strategy which was capable of developing with the anticipated advances in computer technology.
4.2 SPIS - A Common Police Service
From its roots as an aspirational 'strategy' SPIS has developed into a Common Police Service organisation, funded by the Scottish Executive to deliver and maintain a standard approach to the development of new generation systems for the police service and associated organisations in Scotland. The SPIS mission statement specifies:
'The Scottish Police Information Strategy will deliver and maintain a unified approach to future generations of police support systems that facilitate communication across traditional boundaries, improving the consistency and accessibility of information and allowing the Scottish forces to deliver an improved value for money service to its communities.'18
4.3 Joint Management Review of SPIS (July 2002)
In July 2002, SPIS was the subject of a Management Review 19 by a joint team involving HMIC and the Scottish Executive, which looked specifically at its organisational structure, programme management and governance and accountability. The review validated the commitment to a corporate database/data model and its use of open standards and platform-independent languages (ie its inherent flexibility, free from the sort of constraints previously applicable to computer development related to the system or language used).
The SPIS Programme continues to evolve. Its recent advances include the development and delivery in Scotland of the national PITO Criminal Justice Extranet (CJX), the procurement of the Scottish Intelligence Database (SID), the development of a replacement Criminal History System (CHS) for SCRO, development of a firearms licensing system and a national HR system, and a commitment to deliver a national Management Information System (MIS).
In April 2002 a broad representation of the Scottish Police Service including Police Force representatives and office bearers from the various Standing Committees of ACPOS met at Carnoustie to consider the future needs of the police service and the priorities of SPIS. This resulted in the completion of systems under development and new work on human resources, duty management, custody, property, incident recording, crime recording and case preparation.
4.4 Future IT Needs in Crime Management
SPIS provides a mechanism for Scottish forces to develop constantly evolving computer support facilities. Every police force in the country already utilises IT to a greater or lesser extent in relation to the management of crime but there is significant scope for further exploitation. Forces have, in the past, purchased or developed an array of systems, many of which are incompatible with other in-force systems and with few exceptions, do not offer data-sharing capabilities with other forces or partner agencies.
If the Scottish Police Service is to work smarter with regard to the management of crime, IT will be central to the progress. IT has become a medium for communication and for information, two key concepts in the area of solving crime and reassuring victims. It is therefore important that SPIS is supported by forces and that appropriate priority is given within the strategy for those facilities which will enhance service provision in this crucial area of policing; with its capacity to impact on public reassurance.
4.5 Case Studies
During the course of the Inspection, HMIC looked at a number of innovative projects in Scotland and elsewhere where IT was being employed to facilitate the crime management process, and some external organisations where IT was being used to manage processes of a similar level of complexity.
• Project Aquarius (North Wales Police)
North Wales Police have recently purchased an integrated software package from a Canadian company 20 who supplied the same package to all law enforcement agencies in the Canadian State of Ontario.
Project 'Aquarius' as it is named, delivers integrated Records Management, Duty Management, Command and Control, Data Access and Airwave capabilities. As this system incorporates mobile data, it has been dubbed 'self-service' due to the fact that the officers can select what they require and when they require it. Details are available on the force web-site 21.
• CRISP Initiative
Other options do exist to integrate the vast array of disparate IT systems currently in existence such as using software that can link apparently independent systems. The CRISP initiative (Cross Regional Information Sharing Project), co-ordinated by Northumbria Police is creating joint access and search capabilities across a range of applications in a number of neighbouring forces 22.
• Hilton Hotels
An insight into Hilton Hotels delivered an effective example of partnership working within the private commercial sector.
To enhance the likelihood of a product matching their requirements being available, Hilton Hotels let their future needs be known to the market perhaps two years prior to an optimum acquisition date. They may even second a staff member to a company to help them develop a system which may be suitable. Come the time for acquisition they look for a product that most closely fits their current needs e.g. developed beyond their anticipated requirements of two years earlier.
Software companies may be inclined to compete for a contract from the Group because of its reputation as a market leader and in the knowledge that competitor organisations may seek to purchase the same product.
HMIC fully understands the contextual difference between the international commercial private sector and the public service in Scotland, however it is considered that there may be valuable lessons to be learned. The generic principles of policing, like the generic principle of operating hotels, will apply to many countries in the world. Therefore if the collective Scottish Police Service could co-ordinate its requirements and sufficiently influence software developers to concentrate on a product suitable for this country, that same product could, in turn, be marketed throughout other parts of the world.
4.6 The Police Portal
It is UK Government and Scottish Executive policy that by 2005, every relevant public service will be available on-line should the citizen choose to utilise this method of access.
A National Police Portal currently provides an opportunity for victims of less serious crime, who do not require an urgent Police response, to report the event on-line.
It is neither extensively used nor extensively marketed. It also appears somewhat ironic that on receipt of an electronically reported crime, forces have agreed to contact the reporter within 48 hours by conventional means.
While HMIC accepts that for many victims electronic communication will not be a preferred method of 2-way communication with police, there are others, particularly corporate victims, who may welcome the opportunity to deal electronically with the police throughout the investigation.
An example of the benefits this could achieve was seen in one force where a bus company forwards reports of non-injury vandalisms to their property by way of pro-forma fax messages. In return, they receive a fax with the police reference number. Adapting this to electronic transfer of data would be a speedier, more efficient use of resources and, subject to suitable software existing, could result in the report from the victim, populating the appropriate data fields on the police incident and/or crime system.
4.7 Updates On Line
It is also reasonable to ask why victim information needs are not responded to on line for those who would wish to access such a facility. If people can access up to date information regarding their bank account then why not progress in relation to investigation of a crime in which they were the victim. Subject to creation of a suitable security structure, victims could be provided with access to basic non-personal information incorporating the status of the enquiry and contact details for the investigating officer.
Such information is taken further in parts of North Carolina in the USA where victims can monitor the progression of the investigation through to, and beyond, conviction of the accused. ( Chapter 5, paragraph 5.6)
Beyond victim information, IT provides a plethora of options to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of crime investigation.
Drawing on the most beneficial elements of the systems currently in use and projecting where current or future developments will potentially lead, it is reasonable to suggest that all Scottish Forces could soon be operating crime systems linked to force corporate databases in which all known information about one person or one entity, e.g. an address or a vehicle, is available from one data source. Some Scottish forces already operate one data warehouse for information storage. Other forces are developing in that direction. Single databases that store both incident and crime recording information are less likely to produce omission from crime statistics than unconnected databases recording individual functions.
4.8 Mobile Data
The prospect of a single database, incorporating mobile capability, to which all persons involved in a crime investigation contribute their information in real time, is very appealing. Such a database would benefit from two enhancements:
- On-line help/guidance
- Automatic researching and linking of data
HMIC considers that a crime report designed to fulfil the requirements of all Criminal Justice system stakeholders would be of benefit. Analysts, investigators, managers, specialist and support teams, performance and quality auditors, victims, prosecutors and criminal records staff all seek information for their own legitimate purposes. Most, if not all of their reasonable needs could be fulfilled from the appropriately structured contents of crime reports but rarely, if ever, have all stakeholders been provided with the opportunity to influence the content of the document/programme in order that it delivers the data in a format that each requires.
Victims, for example, may welcome the incorporation of a field that reflects the maximum time they have been advised a specific stage in the process will take. If that time is about to be exceeded without completion of the task, further contact with the victim should be established to update them with the reason for delay and the new timescale.
4.9 Knowledge Mapping
On line prompts or drop down help menus, developed by specialists or experts in their own field could be made available to guide investigators through each type of crime investigation. Knowledge Mapping of such data is already being co-ordinated by the Centre for Policing Excellence at Bramshill Police College in England. Currently these knowledge maps are available for inclusion on force Intranet systems, however the maximum benefit may be realised when the information is available to the officer when they are at the scene of the occurrence. Mobile data will provide an opportunity for this development.
As alluded to in other sections of this report, it is suggested by HMIC that simply restructuring the format of crime reports, incorporating a range of optional chapters and, perhaps more relevantly, offering more guidance to investigators by the creation of specific fields to encourage consideration of certain activities would undoubtedly lead to a more effective investigative process and a better report to COPFS and SCRA (suggestion 4).
It is accepted however there is a fine balance between, on the one hand, improving quality by appropriate guidance and prompting whilst, on the other hand, creating a bureaucratic and initiative stifling structure by being over prescriptive. Appropriate consultation with all key Criminal Justice system stakeholders should identify the optimum position that forces can aspire to in this regard.
4.10 Auto Searching/Linking
One potential area of concern for police and public alike is the suspicion that the police service is in possession of many relevant items of information but has not always made the connection between them, often due to the lack of co-ordinated analysis of the contents of disparate IT systems.
Concepts such as single data warehouses or other forms of data sharing will address many of these concerns but a process that actively and automatically seeks potential links is the next logical step. One such process has been launched by West Midlands Police who do have a corporate database. Forensic Linked Intelligence System (FLINTS) 23 automatically interrogates all new items being entered into any aspect of the database against information already stored in the incident, crime, intelligence, custody, property, licensing, case preparation or criminal records applications. This process produces links or potential options for enquiry and it offers them to the operator as the new information is being added to the system. Examples of the benefits include:
- The same unidentified fingerprint, DNA profile or footprint is located at more than one crime scene. These crimes are linked as a series facilitating co-ordinated investigation and an assurance that when one is solved, all will be solved.
- A stolen car is recovered in a particular street. When this information is input, the system produces a schedule of any person previously responsible for car crime in that street and also any convicted car thief who lives in that street or area.
- A person reports vandalism to his house. Criminal records indicate he has a conviction for assault. Intelligence notes that the brother of the victim of assault has numerous convictions for vandalism to houses and has recently moved to the street where the latest vandalism has occurred. FLINTS suggests this person is a potential suspect for the vandalism.
The system has now been progressed to allow data to be supplied to officers on patrol via mobile phone technology, giving immediate access to information such as pictures of suspects or intelligence.
In each of these cases, an investigator in any Scottish force today would make the links shown but the facility to have them offered at the outset of the investigation without any investigative task being actioned appears to be a very worthwhile development. It must also be acknowledged however that, as such a database grows, the number of potential links and potential lines of enquiry being offered will significantly increase. Strong and effective management will be very important if such systems are to be a support to the investigative function rather than turning investigators into slaves of the improving technology.
Later in this report (Para. 5.51), the relationship between police and COPFS/SCRA will be focused on. Information Technology is, and will continue to be, central to that relationship. Designing a crime report that will serve all the needs of these important partner organisations, without the requirement for any captured data or information to be duplicated or rekeyed in any way would have a significant benefit in reducing police time spent on criminal justice tasks offering chief constables an opportunity to increase visibility and consequently public reassurance. Two Scottish forces are currently developing case management systems designed to deliver a more effective product to COPFS/SCRA. HMIC supports this principle but would encourage the process to start at the report of the incident/crime rather than at the point of detection.
The largest ongoing co-ordination of IT projects within the criminal justice arena is the Integration of Scottish Criminal Justice Information Systems Programme (ISCJIS). Many issues surrounding this programme of work are examined in more detail later. ( Para 6.2).
Drawing upon comments and evidence collated during the inspection, HMIC is in favour of using developing and future IT systems to hold performance management information that can accurately inform the police service about what actually works. Simple examples of this are fields that record:
- The principal and secondary means of detection for each crime. (Such data would later assist in determining where funding and other resources were likely to make the most positive impact)
- Whether or not the crime could reasonably have been prevented by operational police activity. (This could better inform the NIM process on where police visibility could have the greatest benefit)
In summary, effective enhancements to the structure and content of information recorded in respect of every crime would facilitate strategies and tactical decisions that would enable and encourage the police to work smarter.
Finally, for this chapter, and returning to the underlying theme of this report - is there conflict between solving crime and reassuring victims? - it is important to reflect that funds available to develop police IT systems should not be spent exclusively on improvements to the investigative process, important as that may be. In this regard, HMIC was pleased to note a range of initiatives and improvements including one force that has used IT to develop a high quality briefing facility that ensures patrol, response and community officers are aware of all key issues before being deployed to duty. HMIC considers the natural evolution of this concept is towards mobile data so that officers have access to this quality of information at all times.
HMIC recommends that under the aegis of SPIS, ACPOS continues to review the emerging developments including:
- Single data capture.
- Exploitation of the e-portal.
- The potential of mobile data (recommendation 12).
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