Digital solutions available to UK policing have never been more readily available than they are today. Forces from across the UK have been evaluating and deploying digital tools to make their operations more efficient and in turn, they help create a safer UK.
Technologies such as crime prediction, facial recognition and software-based A.I innovations have been in operation with diverse rates of success and up-take for a number of years. 2019 however seems to be the year much of this technology will come into its own and be adopted by more constabularies over larger geographical areas of the UK.
A series of new hardware solutions working with police specific software improvements are also being incorporated into both local and national law enforcement systems.
The Police Efficiency Saving Software Suite by SentrySIS is at the forefront of this new software adoption by offering constabularies a range of ‘simple to use’ tools to complete a range of essential police tasks.
Direct Online Crime Reporting for Retailers
Using the SentrySIS Business Crime Software, local and national retailers can report shoplifting and business crime offences directly to their local participating police constabulary. The software automatically produces an official ‘CPS Approved’ MG11 Witness Statement, Business Impact Statement and Witness Details based on information supplied by a retailer. What makes the software even more time efficient is the ability to transfer in-store CCTV video with a digital signature from the witness.
This solution has been successfully deployed in the North East of England saving the police and retailers significant investigation time and human resource as the entire process from start to finish take approximately 15 minutes.
Inspector Adam Norris at Durham Constabulary said: “Under the old method, you would book a two hour diary appointment for an officer to attend the store. They would attend on average 58.5 hours after that initial report is filed. By utilising Sentrysis and our resolution team, the crime report is allocated to an OIC (Officer in Charge) who responds within 16 hours, so retailers are getting a much better level of service because their crime report is being passed to someone to investigate far sooner than it would have been under the old way of working.
Efficiency savings are gained by both the police and the retailers as staff members are now not required to spend two hours with the police to complete an MG11 Witness Statement or copy CCTV on to disk as the SentrySIS system completes these tasks within minutes.
Inspector Norris commented further and said “On top of this, because we are getting the CCTV at a much earlier stage in the investigation, we’re getting hold of the offender at a much earlier stage, this means that we can stop them from committing further offences which will save our constabulary somewhere in the region of £250,000 a year in cost savings.”
The SentrySIS Business Crime Software is managed at a local and regional level across the North East of England by the NERCP (North East Retail Crime Partnership), where retailers can join their organisation as members to use SentrySIS as their crime management software.
Taking Witness or Victim Statements Over the Telephone
The SentrySIS Remote Telephone Statement Taker Software, allows force-wide officers to conduct statements over the telephone with any member of the public in any location across the world.
The software is housed within the secure police dashboard where officers can qualify enquiries and confirm if a statement needs to be conducted. Once a statement has been taken, the officer has the ability to send the witness or victim a secure ‘password-protected’ viewable version of the statement for the recipient to approve or amend. Once the statement is approved, the recipient can digitally sign the statement which is transfer back to the police as an official MG11 Witness Statement.
During the call, the officer also has the ability to send the recipient a secure media transfer link that allows a witness to send digital evidence such as video and/or images as exhibits as part of the statement taking process.
The key benefit this software produces is that the need for face to face contact between the police and the witness or victim is eradicated therefore saving time and it also offers the public more flexible terms when giving statements to the police.
Detective Superintendent Kevin Weir at Durham Police commented and said “Durham Police have always been forward thinking when it comes to the technology we have at our disposal which ultimately improves the service we offer to the public. As a force, we have taken the view that this technology not only offers additional support mechanisms to our officers whilst carrying out their day to day duties but allows the public to interact with the police in a much more modern and efficient way.”
The police receive multiple efficiency savings through eliminated travel time to conduct statements but also around fuel and other transportation costs.
Due to the software having no geographical limitations or boundaries, statements have been conducted with witnesses from right across the UK and further afield in Australia, Singapore and Far East Asia.
Secure Transfer of Large CCTV Video Files in Minutes
There is a common misconception that the police own or have easy access to public CCTV that is commonly used across UK towns and cities. The speed in which the police can view and collect CCTV from public places is paramount when investigating crime.
The SentrySIS Media Provider Software gives the police and those who manage CCTV (such as city, town and borough councils) the flexibility to request, view and transfer large CCTV files between each other in a secure and managed way. Furthermore, this technology provides the police with valuable evidence much sooner in the investigation process meaning time and resource is saved at all stages of any investigation.
Inspector Adam Norris at Durham Police, said: “Any technology that recovers intelligence from video footage is a priority for development in the police’s evidence-gathering capabilities. Such advanced technology will free up officers, allowing investigation teams to be more effective at solving crimes.
Inspector Norris commented further and said “Surveillance cameras are crucial to investigations. This footage has become a game-changer in our pursuit of justice for victims of crimes. The cameras can record and capture a crime as it unfolds and create valuable evidence for court trials.”
CCTV can provide the police with a number of additional uses where the tracking of criminals movements, locating victims of crime, identifying potential suspects and witnesses or disproving alibis are all key aspects to any investigation process.
An avid user of the SentrySIS Media Provider Software in the North East of England is Durham County Council which have been providing the police with CCTV via the SentrySIS platform since 2017.
Mr Adrian White, Head of Transport and Contract Services at Durham County Council, said: “We know CCTV is vital for the police and we have worked closely with our colleagues at Durham Constabulary to help speed up the transfer process. We are always keen to use technology where it helps make efficiencies and so far the system is proving beneficial for all involved.”
A key benefit of the SentrySIS Media Provider Software is that it eradicates the need for the police to visit Durham County Council in person to view and collect CCTV footage as any requested media is uploaded to the system to view online. In addition to this time saving feature, any uploaded CCTV to the secure SentrySIS server is available to download by the police within minutes . Traditionally this process can take weeks from start to finish with the need for human interaction, which wastes people resource for the police and for council CCTV staff.
New Police Software Developments for 2019
A series of new police efficiency saving tools are already in development and final testing stages before they are fully released for use. The planned solutions will give even greater benefits to the SentrySIS police and the public throughout the year.
Imminent software products soon to be deployed focus on road traffic collisions and dangerous driving by the public where the supply of dashcam footage directly to the police can be uploaded within minutes.
For more information on the SentrySIS Platform for Police Constabularies, please contact SentrySIS at info@sentrysis.com or visit www.sentrysis.com