CASE STUDY

The Criminal Justice sector uses the expression "Joined Up Justice" to encourage co-operative information sharing (especially across different agencies) as well as the integration of processing. Whilst the expression does perhaps trivialise the discussion, undoubtedly the message behind the terminology is vitally important.

The Police Force were firm supporters of an integrated approach to all aspects of Criminal Justice. The IT Support Manager, took a lead role in coordinating the Force’s approach to delivering solutions that support the day to day role of Operational Policing. The objectives were clear: to deliver the right information, to the right people when they needed it. Exploiting links to external agencies or other organisations within the Criminal Justice sector was also an important consideration. At the same time, projects must be delivered within an IT framework that suits the overall strategic direction of the Force.

The typical Police Force will operate a number of applications, from different suppliers, supporting the various 'business' processes involved. These systems may be based on diverse technology platforms, utilise different front-end displays and require a significant investment in training. This situation encourages data isolation and discourages user access.

Project Approach

When outlining the scope of the project a number of key elements were identified that would need to be addressed:

• New data requirements
• External agency access
• "Value added" applications
• Increase in volume and transaction rates

The project began by identifying core data requirements and the source systems that could provide this information. Bluestar worked with Force personnel to ensure that underlying business knowledge and rules were captured as part of this review. In essence, data would be included for all significant events including Command & Control, Stop & Search, Custody, Crime etc. It was decided that source systems would be connected in a modular fashion allowing each data set to be validated and integrated with existing information. This approach also ensured that the benefits of the project were delivered to end users on a regular basis.

Cross-Agency Data Sharing

External agencies and other organisations were considered throughout the project. This was for two main reasons: firstly to provide additional information not necessarily available within internal systems and, secondly, to genuinely promote data sharing within the region for the benefit of all of the parties involved.

Perhaps two of the most interesting features regarding the sharing of information relate to a direct link for courts personnel making bookings for hearings, and the provision of access for other Forces in the region. Court dates can now be scheduled for the most suitable time for Officers involved in the case using a weighting system applied to the underlying duty roster information. Cross Force access has already directly led to a number of arrests.

Value-Added Applications

Using Bluestar's terminology, a "value added application" represents functionality that can only be delivered once data has been brought together from different sources. For example, Bluestar's PPI (Personal Performance Indicators) product delivers details and management information on the key events an Officer is associated with. Linked to one system (e.g. crime), this is a valuable tool, however, once the product is configured to access details from Command & Control, Stop & Search, Custody etc., then the features provided become invaluable.

The Police Force decided to deploy a number of such applications to harness the power of the data held within the repository. For example, a Force-wide briefing system would be implemented along with PPI to assist in the performance review process. Maps and charts would also be deployed to assist in operational planning and management information.

Hardware Considerations

Finally, consideration was given to expanding the technology platform to deal with increased volume and transaction rates. Fortunately, Bluestar’s Corvus architecture allows solutions to grow without wasting the initial investment in hardware. It facilitates growth by using a larger number of low cost servers rather than a smaller amount of significantly more expensive hardware. Corvus is built on a platform supporting a distributed service definition and load balancing, so not only is it cost effective, it also delivers exceptional performance.