“No tasers without transformation”...In response to Priti Patel’s announcement of a “taser fund” recently to support frontline officers, Simon Hall, CEO of PoliceBox, a mobile platform for policing, welcomes the announcements, but suggests tasers must be accompanied with the digital transformation of the police service. Tasers are a quick win for the “here and now” of policing, but more comprehensive changes are needed to deliver a digital police force fit for the 21st century.
Priti Patel threw her full support behind the police recently with her speech at the Conservative Party Annual Conference. Responding to a recent campaign for more police to be armed with tasers, we welcome the launch of the new taser fund. But equipping officers with tasers is only one side of the equation to keep officers safe when faced with immediate threat. For frontline officers to be effective against today’s myriad of challenges (knife crime, cyber-crime, county lines etc.), they also need to be informed, with immediate access to critical information before arriving at a scene, and the ability to gather and share information between colleagues and other agencies in real-time.
Policing today is still too paper-based and admin heavy. Frontline officers spend too much of their shift on data entry into cumbersome systems when they should be out of the station serving the community. We need digital policing, which would enable officers to:
- Minimise radio calls by being able to search databases directly on their mobile device
- Significantly reduce end-of-shift admin by having data uploaded from mobile devices to police databases in real-time
- Be more informed when entering any situation, helping to keep them safe
- Be more effectively deployed, with Command and Control able to monitor and dynamically deploy officers based on their current location, specialist training, availability etc.
- Be better supported by other agencies (social services, health, probation etc.) due to improved and automated data sharing
To this end, we urge Priti Patel to extend her support for policing with a comprehensive strategy for the digital transformation of our forces. We already have the blueprint for digital policing within the Policing Vision 2025 plan, we just need the funds to deliver it. It’s great that we have a Home Secretary who has the ambition and drive to support the police. Her promise is to “ back the police” and we wholeheartedly support that.