A pilot project giving North Wales Police officers BlackBerry mobile devices has proved so successful that its deployment is being increased.
The devices are networked to North Wales Police’s Niche Records Management System (RMS), so officers can quickly access crucial information and identify and apprehend criminals.
Test results from the first phase show that using BlackBerrys resulted in officers spending almost one hour more per shift out on the beat, as well as significant reductions in the 'dead time' officers spend escorting suspects to the station.
The expansion of the project from the 300 officers enrolled in the pilot will have a major impact on force efficiency. North Wales' ten car crime officers will have 3,300 more productive hours at their disposal, or the equivalent of two officers. And based on the time saved by community beat officers being able to access Niche RMS while on the streets, the introduction of the devices will save the force an estimated £636,000, or 29,000 productive hours.
The mobile project builds on North Wales' 2002 implementation of the Niche RMS police information management system, which brings together all aspects of operational policing in one unified system. One of the main reasons the force chose Niche RMS was because it can work with portable technology, such as the BlackBerry.
'Experience of trying to mobilise our information over the past few years leads us to believe that with BlackBerry, we are now able to provide officers in North Wales with a first class product and clearly, RMS is at the heart of this.' said Sergeant Aled Eynon, quality assurance officer on the BlackBerry project.
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