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Mobile outlay by Police failing to achieve benefits - NAO

Posted by admin on Fri, 27/01/2012 - 01:00
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Police nvestment in mobile technology have failed to offer value for money and have done little to enhance operational processes, a scathing report from the National Audit Office [www.nao.org.uk] has said.

A programme to equip frontline officers with mobile devices, such as BlackBerrys and personal data assistants, has achieved only a basic level of benefits, says the report by the Comptroller and Auditor General. Despite investment of £80m in the technology, only one in five forces have used the devices effectively to improve their business and operational processes, it has concluded. 

By December 2010 around 41,000 mobile devices had been rolled out under the banner of The Mobile Information Programme, funded by the Home Office and managed by the National Policing Improvement Agency. In the majority of forces, the benefits have not so far extended beyond simply allowing officers to spend more time out of the station.
 
Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office, said: “The roll-out of mobile technology to police forces was achieved against a tight timescale and at reasonable cost. Too little consideration was given, however, to the need for the devices or how they would be used.
 
“There is still the opportunity to achieve value for money, though, if more forces use the technology to improve the efficiency of their processes and make savings in their back-office activities,” Morse added.
 
While the Mobile Information Programme did not explicitly set out to deliver cashable savings, these should have followed from objectives to reduce bureaucracy, increase efficiency and contribute to better policing. Of the 32 forces responding to an NAO survey, only ten claimed some form of cashable savings and these are relatively minor.
 
However, some Forces are predicting greater savings in the future, for example, by reducing control room costs.