Metropolitan Police: 27,000 police PCs still run Windows XP, despite IT modernisation programme

Slow-going migration should reduce the number to "just" 21,000 by the end of September

As many as 27,000 PCs at the Metropolitan Police are still running "dangerous out of date" Windows XP, despite an IT modernisation programme.

Windows XP, introduced in 2001, is now so out of data that it does not even receive official security updates anymore. And, while Microsoft has been keen to chivvy users from Windows 7 and 8 to Windows 10, it only supports enterprise users of Windows XP on a cases by case basis.

The Metropolitan Police must speed-up its modernisation programme as the out-of-date PCs represent a security risk, warned London Assembly Member Andrew Boff, who said that the 15-year-old operating system should have been retired long ago.

According to Boff, the Met is currently running 27,000 computers on XP, and is supporting it with paid for security patches, as opposed to the free updates that supported software would get.

The Met has only upgraded 8,000 computers since 2015, and has plans to update a further 6,000 in September in a rollout that would appear to be proceeding at a slow pace.

"Operating Systems age more like milk than wine, and Windows XP is well past its sell-by date. The Met should have stopped using Windows XP in 2014 when extended support ended, and to hear that 27,000 computers are still using it is worrying," said Boff.

"My major concern is the security of Londoners' information on this dangerously out-of-date system, but I would also like to know how much money the Met have wasted on bespoke security updates," said Boff.

He also questioned the Met's choice of operating system upgrade - not to Windows 7, the most widely used supported version of Windows that everyone would be familiar with, or Windows 10, the latest version, but Windows 8.1.

"I also question the choice to upgrade to Windows 8.1; this is neither the newest version of Windows nor the most used version of the software. Staff are likely to be more familiar with Windows 10, but most importantly it will be supported further into the future."

Boff got the numbers and the information on the situation direct from the Mayor, who confirmed the position. He said that by the end of September there would be 21,000 machines still running Windows XP.

He added that his manifesto mentioned a more efficient use of resources, and said that the Met police is currently in the process of clearing out antiquated PCs that cannot run Windows 8.1.

Earlier this year, the Metropolitan Police issued a tender for a £150m 'integrated policing' system intended to go live in spring 2018. That was one of a number of major contracts that the Met has handed out over the past year or so as it bids to modernise its IT across the board.