Report: Shortfalls of the NAO report into Policing and Mobile Technology
The shortfalls of the National Audit Office report on mobile technology in policing
According to the National Audit Office report released at the end of January 2012, while in many police forces mobile devices enable officers to spend more time out of their stations, cash savings have been limited and only one in five forces have used the devices effectively to improve their business and operational processes. The report also highlights that; “the experience of implementing mobile technology reinforces the challenge of achieving convergence of ICT across 43 police forces, each with bespoke systems supporting individual business processes.”
Alarmingly the NAO report contained no reference to social media, social networks or open data. Social media is the most rapidly growing use for using mobile devices on the Internet in the UK and is proven to be a clearly effective way to meet the policing objectives stated by the original programme.
Multizone questions the programme’s efficacy in enabling Smartphone technology by police forces in terms of:
- real cost and time saving benefits,
- the impact on police administration, and
- the overall impact on crime control and reduction.
We draw attention to the absence of a business case based on measurable outcomes and that the report does not mention social engagement using mobile technology at all.
We could not fit our thoughts into 140 characters, so please enjoy our full report by downloading the pdf.
