The UK's 45 police forces should standardise contact centre
technology, a report from the National Policing Improvement Agency
(NPIA) has said.
The NPIA, which is
responsible for rolling out technology to support the UK's
forces, said that in contrast with the private sector, police
forces have not reaped the benefits of using standard technology in
their contact centres. It recommended the forces consider a
national standard call centre model.
"The NPIA should work with
Association of Chief Police
Officers (ACPO) to revisit the potential for a national contact
management technology system," said the NPIA report. "In the
absence of such a system, ACPO and NPIA should ensure that a set of
agreed system capability standards are developed to help assist in
force procurement decisions."
Andrew Watson, CIO at British Transport Police, said it is "an
absolute imperative" for police forces to use standards when
implementing technology.
"Standardisation is a hugely good idea, because if you buy lots
of different technology across more than 40 police forces you have
to re-invent the wheel more than 40 times, which takes money away
from front-line services," said Watson.
Police forces can share experiences to cut implementation costs
and improve value through buying as a group, he said.
"The idea of an automated call centre would only be considered
if the public expressed that it wanted this type of service," said
an NPIA spokesman.
Police call centres use a wide range of technology, including
CRM software to text messaging. They are often supported by IP
Telephony and wireless protocols.
The NPIA spokesman said it is too early to say what
standardisation will take place but said it is keen to share the
technology best practice between forces
According to the report 50% of police forces have integrated
computing and telephony. A total of 23% use CRM with 27% planning
to use it in the future.