Major suppliers' failure to bid for key IT projects was a
significant factor in the failure to develop a national police
intelligence system, a senior chief constable has
revealed.
John Burbeck, head of criminal justice at the Association of Chief
Police Officers, told a Parliamentary meeting that the
decentralised nature of the police de- terred large suppliers from
taking part in bids for the national intelligence database, which
formed a key part of police strategy in 1994.
Suppliers' reluctance could make it more difficult for the police
to introduce the national intelligence system recommended by the
Bichard report, Burbeck told IT directors and MPs at the
Parliamentary meeting last week.
"We have got the data standards and the will. The current contract
arrangements mean that big players are not interested in police IT.
That is the big issue with the national intelligence system. Four
years ago we had to pull out because no big players were taking the
risk."
Burbeck, chief constable of Warwickshire police, urged the
government to support joining up the criminal justice system in the
wake of the Bichard Report.
"The first thing is to have a very clear strategy for investment.
That probably takes more than two or three years. Then a
consistency for sticking to that, not only with funding but with
central decision making."
John Suffolk, director of government agency Criminal Justice IT,
told the meeting that Bichard would act as a catalyst to make
integration of criminal justice systems a priority.
But he warned against a "knee-jerk" reaction, which could lead to
the rushed development of a system which does not meet the
requirements of criminal justice.
If joined-up criminal justice was to succeed, he said, the courts,
police and prison service needed to spend less time analysing
problems and more time taking action. That would require a culture
change and quick decision making.
"We need to change the way we think. Some people are going to have
to give up some of their sovereignty," he said. "We should not be
spending time talking about how we link system A to system B; it
should happen automatically."
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