Sandra Vogel learns how West Yorkshire Police found a solution to its mobile information management problems in the BlackBerry

West Yorkshire Police is a large force covering a wide area. With more than five thousand police officers, and around three-and-a-half thousand of these engaged in street policing duties, the force is very active. It works across an area covering two thousand square kilometres, containing large urban settings, small villages and remote rural locations. As the fourth largest police force in the UK, West Yorkshire Police needs to be well organised, well serviced, and on its toes.

One of the key requirements of a modern police force is information. Its collection and management are crucial, as is providing fast, efficient access at the point of need. Paul Friday, the Force’s head of information systems, is responsible for the use of technology to meet this requirement. He has been central to the establishment of a system based around Research In Motion’s BlackBerry devices, precisely with the goal of improving information handling in mind. “I have been working with the BlackBerry devices to meet the needs of two different kinds of user,” he explains. “Our mobile office workers, which include senior managers, need to spend a lot of time out of the office but keep in touch, and our street-based police officers need access to information, though of a rather different kind.” “There were several key factors uppermost in my mind when looking for appropriate mobile devices to meet these needs. I wanted hardware with the right levels of reliability, functionality and battery life. There was a balance to be struck between ‘rugged and heavy’ and ‘light but more fragile’ hardware, as police officers already carry a lot of equipment.

“And, most importantly, I had to be able to implement very tight security on the devices. There is no way we as a Force would allow any mobile device to be used on the streets without suitable data security measures in place, no matter how good the hardware itself. “I have been able to use the BlackBerry devices, along with the BlackBerry Enterprise Server software running on our network, to meet the needs of both mobile office workers and street police officers.

“Access to email on the move was really important for both. Email is great, but it also has negative features. People can find it stressful to have to face a large inbox; they tend to want to copy people into messages unnecessarily, and email can sit in an inbox for a while before it gets dealt with. Really important messages are easy to miss among the many that are less important.

“The BlackBerry devices solve all that. We've provided mobile access to email that is a great boon for all users as they can make use of ‘dead time’. Also interesting is that as they are using small keyboards, people seem to write more pithy messages. All that adds up to faster more relevant communications, which means faster decision-making.

ON THE HOOF

“For the mobile office users, including senior managers, we also implemented access to our daily briefing, which is a digest of happenings from the previous day. This is compiled and distributed at 6am, and used to be sent as an email to the office. Now it is pushed to the BlackBerry devices so it can be read on the way to the office, which means our senior staffare fully informed.

“Officers in the field have the added benefit of direct access to the Police National Computer (PNC). In the past, officers had to make a voice call to an intermediary who queried the PNC for them. The process could take up to five minutes. Using the BlackBerry and making a query themselves, officers can complete a search in under a minute without tying up the time of an intermediary. Given the number of PNC queries officers make, these saved minutes really add up.

“Before choosing the BlackBerry, we did look at alternatives, including specially ruggedised devices. Those were much more expensive, though, and we find the BlackBerry is as robust as we need it to be, as well as being easy to use so that our officers require very little training. We give our street officers half a day of training. The same course is available to the mobile office staff. If they are just using the built-in email and calendaring services, it can take just a few minutes for people to get up and running. “Taking this into account, along with the fact that our officers save at least an hour a week accessing the PNC, I'm convinced the BlackBerry devices easily pay for themselves. “The security aspect is well implemented too. All the devices are password protected, and time out if they are left on and not used. BlackBerry Enterprise Server lets us control the devices remotely too, so we can clear their contents if one is reported lost to our 24-hour helpline. Obviously, maintaining security like this is crucial for us. In fact, good on-device security and the ability to control – and clear – devices remotely is the core driver behind our decision to roll the BlackBerry out to 2,000 of our street-based officers.

“I have plenty of thoughts about expanding the use of BlackBerry in the future. I am keen to look at the possible ways we could use it to assist with major investigations, and also to enable the devices to access as many of our forms as possible from the field. Filling forms and then ensuring their information is electronically recorded takes a lot of time. It would be wonderful if forms could be completed in the field, as time would be saved and they could be queried immediately and in complex ways. It would, for example, make looking for sightings of potential suspects in a crime hugely faster and easier than it is presently."

Business Benefits

* Tough and robust hardware keeps replacement costs low

* Ease of use means non-technical staff can get the most out of the hardware with minimal training and support

_ Access to email on the move removes the stress of large inboxes and makes good use of 'dead time'

* Access to key information resources out of the office improves efficiency and
decision-making speed, and decreases the time needed to access Police National Computer data

* Excellent battery life and functionality makes the hardware a viable alternative to a laptop

About West Yorkshire Police

West Yorkshire Police is the fourth largest police force in the UK, and is responsible for protecting 2.1 million people across an area measuring 2,000 square kilometres. The force comprises ten divisions, and serves a mixed urban and rural area. There are around 5,500 police offi cers and 2,500 support staff in the Force.

Software & hardware used

BlackBerry 7230
BlackBerry Enterprise Server
www.blackberry.com