Robocops

Pounding the beat is only part of policing London’s streets. As Metropolitan Police Service CIO Ailsa Beaton tells Diana Milne, it also requires a €350 million IT budget and some of the world’s most advanced technology infrastructure.

“Being a special constable makes me feel much more connected to the frontline business than I would if I was just a board member”
-Ailsa Beaton

There aren't many CIOs who spend their spare time pounding the beat on the streets of London. But for Ailsa Beaton there's no better way to understand the IT requirements of her organisation than to volunteer as a special constable. As CIO of London's Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), Beaton's remit is vast, and includes supporting 50,000 employees with 30,000 desktops, controlling a €350 million IT budget and ensuring officers are equipped with the technology they need to fight crime. She describes IT as the "lifeblood of the organisation", underpinning modern policing methods from the control room to the street patrols. Its growing importance within the organisation comes at a time, however, when the organisation is facing tight economic constraints and Beaton admits one of the most challenging aspects of her role is balancing increasing demands with depleting resources, "The biggest challenge is for us to make the police service the best it can be with shrinking resources. In absolute terms the money may not have been cut. But we're being asked to do more with it than we've ever done before."

Project pipeline
The "more" Beaton refers to includes being tasked to deliver service improvements and savings in the region of €58 million and spearheading a major overhaul of the Met's IT and communications infrastructure. This was the aim of the C3i programme, which was completed in 2006 and involved integrating the force's communications and monitoring systems, including its 32 borough control rooms. Describing the project, Beaton says: "We've taken five call receipt centres, 32 borough control rooms and integrated them into three operational centres that handle the 12 million inbound calls each year, whether they are 999 or non emergency calls. The centres also co-ordinate the dispatch of officers whether it's an immediate blue light situation or less urgent scenario. We despatch not just by voice, but through mobile data terminals in police vehicles and we monitor alarms across London. It was very complex and as such, took a great deal of time from the inception of the idea through to delivery. But as a project it ran to time and budget and we're very pleased with the outcome."

As well as C3i, another huge focus for the MPS is mobility and ensuring police officers on the beat have easy access to all the information they need when they attend an incident. With this in mind the Metropolitan Police is rolling out PDAs to officers so that they can get information on the move rather than having to return to their patrol car to the mobile data terminal or radio a colleague. "Through mobile data terminals the information we're able to give police officers has changed beyond all recognition," says Beaton. "But although the information is available over the radio, and they may have mobile data terminals in the cars, we were left with a bit of a gap for officers on foot. So we're rolling out PDAs to officers which will allow them to conduct various business processes such as checking people's details on the PNC  (Police National Computer) while they are on the street."

The bigger picture
Although her main focus is on the Metropolitan Police area, Beaton is also involved in implementing nation-wide improvements to policing and is a member of the Association of Chief Police Officers and Head of the Information Management Business Area. One of the biggest projects she is involved in within that capacity is the migration from the PNC to the Police National Database (PND). The PNC has been used since 1974 and consists of several databases containing millions of police records that are accessible for 24 hours a day. The Police National Database is a new and improved version which, says Beaton, will provide access to more data about individuals, detailing not just criminal records but police intelligence about a person, including ongoing investigations and suspicious activities. She explains: "The PNC will tell you if somebody has a criminal record. It will know if they are wanted or missing or if a vehicle is stolen or missing. But what it can't tell you is about intelligence that has been gathered through investigative work we've done. For instance if we think a person may have been linked with the sale of illegal weapons. The PND will give broader picture of what we know, for example that someone is suspected of conducting illegal activity with underage children, or being involved in a paedophile ring. When you know that additional information you might take some different actions or ask some different questions to help in the investigation."

While Beaton is satisfied with the improvements that are being made to the information that can be accessed by police officers, she admits there are gaps that must be bridged in terms of accessibility to information by the public. This particularly applies to witnesses and the victims of crime: "I think the information available to victims and witnesses has improved tremendously, but more can be done. The gap we've got is that face-to-face interaction is not always the way people would prefer to receive that information. Currently we are unable to provide information to the public electronically so people can see how their case is doing for example. That's largely because we haven't separated what the police need from what the public need in the case process and we are unable to give members of the public access to absolutely everything there is about a case, because we would jeopardise the case."

Policing efficiency
In her role as ACPO member, Beaton is also involved in efforts to better co-ordinate working practices across the UK's 43 independent police forces as part of the nationwide Information Systems Improvement strategy (ISIS) programme. "This is about  all 43 independent forces working together to get the most out of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in policing,  and in the most cost effective way. We're working very closely with the ISIS lead, the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA). We've got to the stage where we're starting to find solutions to help support local policing, without having the cost implication of all 43 local forces doing their own thing." Achieving this sort of efficiency and cost effectiveness within the police service is an integral part of Beaton's role. However, to free up the group to focus more on information management and using technology to meet the Met's objectives on the frontline, back-office IT procedures were outsourced to Capgemini in 2005 as part of a seven-year £50 million deal. "What we outsourced to Capgemini was what I called the standard IT, such as phones, desktop computers and applications." She goes on to say that the contract has resulted in both cost savings and service level improvements. She reveals that a previous outsourcing deal didn't take account of the round the clock requirements of the Metropolitan Police: "Our first generation outsourcing didn't take as much account as I think it should have done of us being a 24 hour seven day a week, 365 day a year business and was far too geared to what I would call a standard office way of working."

On the frontline
Understanding the unique needs of the police service is key to successfully aligning information management with crime fighting. Beaton's secret weapon is her voluntary work as a Special Constable which she says gives her the best possible insight into the IT needs of the police and whether the systems her team have put in place are really working: "Being a special constable makes me feel much more connected to the frontline business than I would if I was just a board member. When I've done an upgrade to mobile data terminals or I'm putting out PDAs or talking about how good the radio service is I've experienced it all first hand so have a greater appreciation of how technology is meeting the needs of the service."   As well as keeping in touch with the technology used by officers on the front line, an important part of Beaton's role is understanding the technology that is being used by criminals to commit offences: "We must keep aware of all the things that are being made available through the Internet whether it's deceiving people into parting with money or setting up various scams around it. It's also a way of criminals communicating with each other maybe without ever meeting, which changes the way that we investigate crime."

Beaton's passion for her role should, she hopes, serve as an inspiration to other aspiring female CIOs in an industry which remains heavily male dominated. She is keen to encourage women to follow her example and is involved in initiatives in the UK such as Computer Clubs for Girls:  "I don't think it's been particularly more difficult for me than for anybody else," she says. "But we're in a challenging position, and I think only about 15 percent of the British Computer Society is female. So the numbers of women going into computing is frighteningly low. I sit on the Sector Skills Council for Information Technology (e-skills) which supports activities like Computer Clubs for Girls to try to get girls when they are at school to realise that this isn't just a boy's thing." They need to know that it's actually very interesting and it's not just about computer games. There are lots of ways of using technology that are useful and worthwhile," a point she has proven very successfully herself.

About the Metropolitan Police

The Metropolitan Police Service is by far the largest of the police services that operate in greater London (the others include the City of London Police and the British Transport Police). The Royal Parks Constabulary have now become part of the Metropolitan Police Service. Founded by Sir Robert Peel in 1829,the original establishment of 1,000 officers policed a seven-mile radius from Charing Cross and a population of less than 2 million.

Today, the Metropolitan Police Service employs 31,000 officers, 14,000 police staff, 414 traffic wardens and 4,000 Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) as well as being supported by over 2,500 volunteer police officers in the Metropolitan Special Constabulary (MSC) and its Employer Supported Policing (ESP) programme. The Metropolitan Police Services covers an area of 620 square miles and a population of 7.2 million.

The organisational structure of The Met

Territorial Policing: London's local police
Following a recent restructuring, most of the day-to-day policing of London is the responsibility of 33 borough operational command units (BOCUs).

Specialist Crime Directorate
In addition to policing London's streets, the Met has various specialist units dedicated to reducing all aspects of serious and specialist crime.

The intention of Specialist Crime Directorate is to place a renewed emphasis on working collaboratively with communities, boroughs and partners to identify effective solutions to serious crime problems.

Specialist Operations
The Met has various specialist units that work across the capital or which fulfill a national role.

A number of these are grouped into a section of the organisation known as Specialist Operations.They deal with tasks such as intelligence, security, protection of politicians, embassies and royalty, and the investigation of certain categories of serious crimes, including racial and violent crime and terrorism.

Central Operations
Central Operations consists of a number of specialist units that provide a broad range of policing functions. These units effectively provide an integrated, collaborative and community focussed service to London.

With Capital City Policing at the forefront of its responsibilties, it also has the remit for delivering the security arrangements for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in London.

Administration and support
An organisation the size of the Metropolitan Police Service could not function without various management, administration and support functions. For this reason The Met has thousands of staff, including police officers as well as civilians, who work behind the scenes to ensure that the front line units can do their job. Their functions include recruitment, training, personnel management, provision of information technology, publicity and communications. Some functions, such as vehicle maintenance and aspects of information technology and telecommunications, have been contracted out to the private sector.