Police single sign-on system will finally arrive in 2010

Delayed identity and access management scheme will be in place next year after Siemens Enterprise Communications Group wins contract

The system will help improve frontline policing

The National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) has awarded a £5m contract to Siemens Enterprise Communications (SEN) Group to provide forces with an identity-based digital access system.

The software will give all police officers a single digital identity to access police information systems securely from any location and is due to be delivered and operational in January 2010.

Other benefits will include secure exchange of electronic data between forces and the criminal justice system, and savings on time and costs in areas such as password resetting.

NPIA chief information officer Richard Earland said easier sharing of information and intelligence directly impacts frontline policing.

“The NPIA looks forward to working with Siemens to meet the growing demand to make information more widely available across all forces," he said.

The deal is one of the first projects that will be delivered under the NPIA’s Information Systems Improvement Strategy (ISIS), which aims to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of information systems across the police service.

An original version of the project, known as the Unified Police Security Architecture and first scheduled to be finished in April 2007, was cancelled last year after an NPIA review found that by the time it was delivered the technology would not be as useful as intended.

A single digital identity for every police officer was mandated by the Association of Chief Police Officers in 2006, but rollout delays have frustrated some local forces.

Six forces have now introduced their own single sign-on solutions to simplify officers’ access to IT applications. These are compatible with the new NPIA systems coming in.

SEN Group is a joint venture between private equity firm The Gores Group and Siemens.