Met Police oversight body seeks intel too to interrogate data – including taxi and takeaway records


London Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime has revealed plans to invest in a browser-based tool that would cleanse and collate data from various sources and allow officers to explore

The public body for overseeing policing across London is seeking to invest in a data analytics tool to enable investigators to better interrogate a range of information sources – including taxi and takeaway delivery records.

The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) – which provides governance of the Metropolitan Police Service and sets the force’s budget – has published a commercial early-engagement notice outlining its ultimate intent to buy a “communication exploitation data tool”.

Such a tool would provide “a national software capability service” which “processes, cleanse, and analyses, large amounts of communications data in varying formats for investigation purposes”, according to the notice.

These formats are likely to include “CSV, ANPR data, drone data, Zipcar records, Uber ride data, Uber Eats delivery data” and more.

The notice says: “The solution must cleanse raw communications data, including radio frequency data, and transform it into standardised, usable format suitable for intelligence analysis.”


Related content


The data system will be expected to “enable intelligence analysts… to generate timelines, reports, i2 charts, and rich maps to visualise key insights and patterns from the communications data”, the document adds.

MOPAC wishes to invest in technology that is “zero deployment and… accessible via a standard internet browser, [such as] Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome”.

The notice adds: “Commercial off-the-shelf products offered must include a full API to enable seamless integration with existing systems and support custom development needs.”

The software will need to “integrate with existing secure data transfer processes, while ensuring compliance with… security protocols and data-handling legislation”.

This is likely to require “robust access-control mechanisms, including role-based access control to restrict access based on user roles and responsibilities”.

MOPAC has not yet launched a bidding process for potential suppliers of this technology, but expects to do so early next month.

Sam Trendall

Learn More →