Plans to buy up to 30,000 new mobile devices for police officers across London could end up as ‘costly paperweights’ unless processes are changed and officers properly trained to use them, the London Assembly heard.
Cambridgeshire Chief Constable Simon Parr, from the Association of Chief Police Officers, warned the Committee that to be successful, the Met’s new tablets and mobile devices would need to allow officers to access all the information they would have in the office, while on the go.
Dr Tom Jackson from Loughborough University, who has studied the use of mobile technology at Leicestershire Police, added that he was ‘horrified’ by the small size of some of the PDAs on the market and warned that officers will not use them unless they are user friendly. He pointed out that some devices were too small for officers to fill in crime reports properly – one of the key functions for any new device.
Both were speaking at the first meeting of the Budget and Performance Committee’s review of the Met’s technology budget and the savings expected over the next few years. The Committee will question the Met and the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime at a second meeting after the publication of their technology strategy in the spring.
All of the guests agreed that plan to cut the technology budget by £42m during 2014/15 were achievable, but Chief Constable Parr told the Committee his concern was with the speed of the cuts. The year’s cuts will be followed by an additional £60m in 2015/16. Guests also expressed surprise that the Met was questioning the need for ‘cloud’ technology which could help cut the cost of storing information.
John Biggs AM, Chair of the Budget and Performance Committee said: “Everyone agrees that the police need to spend more time out on the streets, tackling crime and reassuring communities, and less time in the office doing the dull but essential back office jobs. That’s why it’s so important that the Met gets the best deal when it invests in technology, like smartphones and tablet computers that allow officers to access information on the go.”
“The Met must make the right decisions about the 30,000 new mobile devices they plan to roll out over the coming year and we will be putting the concerns we have heard today to the Met at our second meeting.”
You can watch a webcast of the meeting.
