Local police take control of emails

System will allow police to monitor internal emails

Dorset Police has installed an email monitoring and archiving system to boost the security and efficiency of email delivery.

Michael Knight, information security officer at Dorset, says the system from Waterford Technologies allows the authority to monitor the internal mail system.

‘Everyone talks about how mail systems can be misused and what can be circulated,’ he said. ‘If you don’t know what is happening you have no way of implementing any management policies.’

An inappropriate email circulated within Hertfordshire Constabulary last month resulted in disciplinary action for 140 officers and civilian staff.

Dorset Police’s MailMeter system can identify the origin of an email and assess the size of any attachments. It also archives all mail, even if users have deleted it, and can search those archives.

Knight says the system will also improve email efficiency.

‘There is a lot of information there that can help us manage our bandwidth and make the best use of our email system and our exchange servers,’ he said.

‘If you can see a peak over a couple of hours in a day and it’s putting a load on your system, you can use that information to defer sending low-level emails to 4am when the system is quieter.’

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