08 Mar 2007
The future of a major element of the Impact national intelligence sharing system is in doubt because of financial problems, highlighting uncertainties over central police IT projects.
A letter from Impact chairman David Stevens to chief constables says the Cross-Regional Information Sharing Project (Crisp) will have to be cancelled if the overall plan for a Police National Database (PND) is to be achievable in light of expected budget cuts.
The Home Office will only confirm that Impact, of which Crisp is the second phase, is under review. But Computing understands that the £50m procurement for the Crisp central data system was halted last week.
Crisp, which was due to go live this summer, would allow officers to search for intelligence data held by other forces.
The National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA), which comes into being next month, is involved in budget negotiations with the cash-strapped Home Office. Given that background, police IT staff are not surprised that Impact may be scaled back.
‘We know the NPIA will start with a thumping deficit,’ said one police IT source. ‘So we knew all the national IT programmes were at risk – Crisp may not be the only one to hit the buffers.
‘Police IT is in disarray and the past couple of months have been dire because we do not know what will be funded and what will not,’ said the source.
Impact was created after the 2004 Bichard Inquiry into the Soham murders described nationwide intelligence sharing as ‘a national priority’.
But implementation of the project, originally set for 2007, has already slipped to 2010.
‘It is extremely disappointing that what was a priority at the time of the Bichard review seems as far away today as when Sir Michael issued his report,’ said Rick Naylor, president of the Superintendents’ Association.
A spokeswoman for the Home Office says decisions made about the Impact programme will be designed to improve delivery.
‘Any decision will compromise neither child protection nor the ultimate objective of delivering the PND by 2010,’ she said.
Stand by IT plans, 18
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This is such a disappointing result yet again for national IT in the police service. Once again, huge quantities of public money - £30m-plus - have been wasted over the past two and a half years on a programme that has seen the Crisp core interim system abandoned due to technical issues with its scalability, when many members of the police IT community have been stating this for the past 12 months.
Why, when there are pockets of good practice in terms of data sharing and implemented large-scale solutions that already share information and intelligence within the service, are we blindly spending money and the centre on large-scale developments that never work or deliver value for money?
NSPIS Case & Custody being a prime example. Surely it is time that the whole area of IT ambitions from the centre is reformed.
Posted by: Jerry Wise 08 Mar 2007
Sir,
It was with great disappointment that I read the article about the threat to the Police National Database and national intelligence sharing system ('Budget threat to police plans', 8th March). There have been a number of reports of high-profile IT software failures recently, the NPfIT being the most well known. Therefore, to read of yet another failing public sector IT project is distressing.
The problems facing this project, as with most failed software projects, stem from a complete failure to plan properly prior to the implementation process.
The government (as with all organisations in both the public and private sectors) needs to recognise the importance of thorough planning when it comes to software development. Software development should be viewed as a managed business process, which can be successfully regulated like any other project within the business.
I very much hope that the necessary plans and procedures are put into place now, to ensure that this project does not fall at the first hurdle and is able to be successful and add value to all involved.
Steve Gedney, MD
Borland UK
Posted by: Steve Gedney, MD, Borland UK 08 Mar 2007
It was with great disappointment that I read the article about the threat to the Police National Database and national intelligence sharing system (Budget threat to police plans, 8 March). There have been a number of reports of high-profile IT software failures recently, the £6bn National Programme for NHS IT being the most well known. Therefore, to read of yet another failing public sector IT project is distressing.
The problems facing this police programme, as with most failed software projects, stem from a complete failure to plan properly before the implementation process.
The government, as with all organisations in the public and private sectors, needs to recognise the importance of thorough planning when it comes to software development. Software development should be viewed as a managed business process, which can be successfully regulated like any other project within the business.
I very much hope the necessary plans and procedures are put in place now to ensure that this project does not fall at the first hurdle and is able to be successful and add value to all involved.
Posted by: Steve Gedney, MD, Borland UK 08 Mar 2007
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