UK's second-largest police force adopts new IAM solution

West Midlands Police chooses Courion for its identity and access management requirements

West Midlands Police, the UK's second-largest police force after the Metropolitan Police, is to deploy an identity and access management (IAM) solution from Courion.

The system is designed to provide a complete solution for managing access rights for the force's 150,000 users. Access will be controlled to information, buildings and systems, such as the Police National Database, which stores nationwide police information and intelligence.

Paul Williamson, programme manager at West Midlands Police, explained that the solution would make the organisation's IAM processes simpler to manage.

"The aim of the project is to automate what has been a bureaucratic, slow, manual access management process. What won it for Courion was the solution's ease of implementation and simplicity, combined with the fact that it offers so much functionality behind the scenes."

He also said that IAM is a crucial area for police forces.

"Some of the data accessed by the police force on a daily basis can be life threatening if it falls into the wrong hands, so it is critical to verify that all access is appropriate."