The main information management priority for Steve Farquharson, group director information management, Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), is quality.

He says the MPS faces challenges greater than changing the traditional mindset of IT departments as mere suppliers of technology goods and services. It operates in an environment with a high demand for confidentiality, while at the same time being a huge and diverse business.

The direct relationship between the activities of gathering information and effective business is perhaps more apparent in policing, says Farquharson.

‘Intelligence tip-offs, information shared with other agencies and obtained from previous enquiries, are all pieces in the jigsaw of detection that is the basis of good policing,’ says Farquharson.

‘Brought together and analysed, this information eventually leads our front-line officers to the point where they can either make arrests or implement programmes that reduce criminal activity.’

He points out that IT systems are only as good as the information they hold and building an organisational culture where information quality is everyone’s responsibility is key.

‘It is about focusing on our people – ensuring they are able to follow information management best practice through awareness programmes, training and support; focusing on our processes – establishing strong leadership, clear information standards and workable business processes; and focusing on our technology – delivering integrated solutions, which reduce the need for rekeying and duplication of effort, and that are designed with the needs of staff, the business and our customers in mind,’ says Farquharson.