Bid number (for
EG use) | |
Lead bidder | Strathclyde Police, 173 Pitt Street, Glasgow
G2 4JS
Mr Ricky Gray, Deputy Chief Constable,
0141 532 2000
ricki.gray@strathclyde.pnn.police.uk |
Brief description of the aims of the
project | The project objective is to reduce the
number of postal countermands issued by the
Procurator Fiscal Service, as well as reducing
the requirement for police process servers and
police officers to be involved in delivering
non-postal countermands to civilian witnesses
in summary cases. This would be achieved by
utilising existing technology as a means of
countermanding witnesses by the use of text
messaging, sent via mobile telephones. |
Clear description of what the
EGF money would be used to
buy | EGF money would be used to
finance the costs associated with a scoping
study, leading to conducting a pilot project,
linked to the 1998/99 pilot concerning the
postal citation and postal countermanding of
civilian witnesses. |
Partners to the project likely to commit
resources | Strathclyde Police Crown Office/Procurator Fiscal Service (
COPFS) |
Names of other organisations with whom the
project has been discussed (to assist the
introductions process) | Crown Office/Procurator Fiscal Service |
Evidence that suggested approach has been
deployed successfully elsewhere | In December 2003, Fife Council launched the
"Fife Direct to You" project which includes
arrangements to provide notification of school
closures caused by severe weather. In essence,
details of closures are entered on the Fife
Council computer hub and routed to a commercial
firm ("TextAnywhere"). Multiple text messages
are thereafter sent to the respective parents,
with each message tailored to the school
concerned. There is no cost to the parents and
they are not required to acknowledge the text
messages. Some 740 parents registered for the
service at its launch and this figure has now
increased to 3,500 (February 2005). Moreover, text messaging is also now in use
by hospitals in Glasgow and Edinburgh as a
means of contacting patients to notify them of
medical appointments. |
Are there any restrictions to potential for
enlargement of the project (
i.e. technology, number of
partners etc) | There is the potential to adapt the
methodology applied by the Fife Council project
for use by the Crown Office/Procurator Fiscal
Service across Scotland, in relation to the
countermanding of civilian witnesses. Indeed,
police witnesses could similarly be
countermanded in this fashion. The technology
involved has been successfully evaluated and
text messaging is now an accepted and widely
used form of communication. |
Benefits projected from the project | There are numerous benefits to be obtained
from a successful project. (a) Civilian witness
would receive more timeous notification of
countermands. (b) The Procurator Fiscal's
Office would save costs on administration and
postal charges. (c) More productive time would
be released for police officers and police
process servers, |
Estimated financial projections | Total | 2004/5 | 2005/6 | 2006/7 | 2007/8 |
Overall project cost | | At this stage the bid is for the costs
associated with a scoping study, leading to a
pilot project of approximately 6 months. | Nyk | | |
Estimated projected benefits | | | Nyk | | |
Is a pilot required - see guidance notes | It is suggested that a pilot project be run
at Glasgow Sheriff Court, involving "G"
Division, Strathclyde Police. The territorial
boundaries of "G" Division encompass the south
east areas of Glasgow (within the jurisdiction
of Glasgow Sheriff Court) and the East
Renfrewshire local authority area (within the
jurisdiction of Paisley Sheriff Court). The
Glasgow area would be utilised as the pilot
area with the East Renfrewshire area being the
control area. It may also be necessary for
another Glasgow city division to be used as an
additional control area, in order that a fuller
comparison can be made between the
countermanding arrangements that apply to
Glasgow Sheriff Court and Paisley Sheriff
Court. |
Additionally: why is
EG funding required | The potential to "roll-out" the system of
countermanding witnesses by text messaging
compares very much with the earlier and related
funding of the postal citation and
countermanding system. Hardware and development
costs in the region of £116,000.00 were
incurred at that time (1998/99). However, based
on the experience of Fife Council in setting up
the 'Fife Direct to You' project the amount of
funding required for the
EG bid would be considerably
less. |
Does this project complementary in anyway to
other
EG work | The Efficient Government (
EG) Circular of 2 September
2004, cites the introduction of postal
citations as an example of where police
'productive time' has been increased. Likewise,
the report on 'Building a Better Scotland'
makes reference to 'releasing productive time'
by improving the efficiency of the justice
system through joint working between
agencies. |
Is "stage 2 development funding"
requested? | Not at present. The bid is to fund a scoping
study to assess the potential for a pilot
project to be undertaken, allied to the costs
associated with the pilot project. |