Legacy systems hindering progress

Police Scotland is responsible for policing some 28,168 square miles with a unique range of urban, rural, island and remote communities. It is the second largest force in the UK after the Metropolitan Police Service, with a workforce of 22,000 officers and staff.

Formed in 2013 from eight regional police forces and two agencies, Police Scotland was having to rely on multiple IT systems, all of which dated from before the merger.

The legacy systems were a barrier to progress, and Police Scotland needed a system it could rely on to support new laws, including the UK’s hate crime legislation. Rather than updating each separate system with new functionality, the decision was taken to implement a national policing platform accessible to all officers and staff in Scotland.

Following a competitive tender, Police Scotland chose technology partners based on their experience working with other Police Forces in the UK and their knowledge around some of our legacy systems.

Complex and Large Scale challenge

Police Scotland saw the opportunity to invest in a modern system which would bring multiple improvements to the force.

The Digital Support and Evolution Manager at Police Scotland explains:

“As the project progressed, it became clear that the new national policing system would serve the country better if it was built on technology which could evolve with the times.”

Barely an hour of downtime

Despite the enormity of the challenges, the new system implementation went remarkably smoothly. The migration methodology was well thought through and allowed for minimal operational disruption.

After the migration, the new system was rolled out module by module, region by region, with Police Scotland and NEC colleagues working as a single, blended team which shared an office. This close collaboration meant that NEC could evolve the solution so it exactly fitted Police Scotland’s needs.

An evolving solution

Rather than waiting for all the planned functions to be available, Police Scotland wanted to get up and running, as the Digital Support and Evolution Manager describes.

“We started with a minimum viable product and introduced changes incrementally. This meant that officers could ask us for the functionality they needed and we could deliver. The big advantage is that this system can continue to evolve, because policing never stands still.

 

We already had people who were familiar with the system, so we made the most of their expertise and gave them what they needed to train their co-workers. It was a case of training our trainers. It’s never easy for people to change their ways of working, but the system was such an obvious improvement on our previous setup, most people agreed the change was well overdue.”

Our new way of working

The new platform supports Police Scotland’s digital ambitions.

According to the Digital Support and Evolution Manager, this benefits frontline policing, intelligence and efficiency.

“The new platform has made the force more agile, because staff use the same system, wherever they are. This allows us to move officers from one part of the country to another to meet peak demand, so they can cover events like fireworks night or protests.

 

The new platform makes the force more efficient and enables officers to do more out in the community. It creates efficiencies for officers through less time re-keying of data, and more time policing in the community.”

As the system evolves, it is easier for Police Scotland to implement policy changes.

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A system fit for the future

The project has built strong foundations for future improvements, many of which are in development to tackle issues that are at the heart of our communities.  It has improved Police Scotland’s ability to strengthen critical partnerships.

Steve Ainsworth, Executive Director, Public Safety at NEC Software Solutions, describes how the close working relationship underpinned the success of the project:

“The Team at Police Scotland communicated their vision and were open to ideas about how to achieve it. Our close strategic partnership was built on trust, which meant we were able to work together to develop a national policing system that’s ready for whatever the future brings.”