13 June 2008

Accurate information on time, every time

Information is the lifeblood of policing. But unless it is accurate, relevant and accessible when it's needed, it is of little value.

The emergency services requirement for accurate data is truly 'mission critical' - lives depend on it. Data from Police Forces is in huge demand and shared prolifically. Whether destined for the PNC, the Courts, the Prison Service, Home Office or the public, data must be correct.

So how can you ensure it is accurate, accessible and meets MoPI compliance targets?

A number of factors need to be taken into account. Initially data needs entering accurately and in line with both Force and Home Office policies and procedures. Existing data needs to be correctly linked with evidence and managed through tightly controlled business rules. Key to achieving these goals is the creation of a single process to manage data throughout its lifecycle, without the need for any reworking.

Hampshire Constabulary acknowledges the challenges both of maintaining data quality within key systems and of preparing data for sharing with the Police National Database and the migration and improvement of information held within the current crime and incident recording systems - including data held within legacy systems. Hampshire uses data integrity solutions from Infoshare and Knowledge Solutions to ensure that officers and analysts have access to accurate, evidence-based, validated intelligence available from all data and at any time.

By using Knowledge Solutions at the front-end of this process, staff can be challenged when they're entering data; alerting them to errors and enforcing correct policies and business processes. Knowledge Solutions enabled Hampshire to change Force behaviour within weeks on its custody, case prep and command and control systems, with a corresponding reduction in data and process errors.

Chris Jones, Chief Inspector Information Management, Corporate Services at Hampshire, comments: "It is the policy of Hampshire Constabulary that staff who contribute to the creation, lifecycle management and ownership of information are held accountable for data quality. The combined ability of Infoshare's ClearCore and Knowledge Solutions to evidence all links and provide comprehensive, accurate and reliable information was a critical factor in our decision to purchase."

Stephen Beddow, IT Project Manager, Warwickshire Police, adds: "We were aware even before IMPACT that data quality was going to be an issue for Police Forces. The majority of systems do not allow proven links associating 'person A' on 'database A' with 'person B' on 'database B'. Warwickshire sought a solution to logically link these nominals together. We bought Infoshare's ClearCore to improve data quality and form the basis of our data cleansing and quality tools to support MoPI. Ultimately it's about control of the information lifecycle from initial data capture through to review, retention and disposal."

Similar challenges have been overcome at Surrey Fire & Rescue Service according to Carl Walker, Risk Information, GIS Systems & Development, Surrey FRS: "Robust, quality information helps us to make informed decisions when planning strategies. By using Infoshare to clean and match changes to data, additions and deletions, on a needs-to basis, we're filtering out bad data and synchronising it across all locations, ensuring we continue to make Surrey a safer place to live and work".