British police who will responsible for the safety of both tourists and competitors during this year’s Olympic Games in London will be using command and control software dating back to the 1980s.
This stunning revelation came to light in a report published by the Met on Wednesday, which examined the summer riots last year, and what lessons for the police could be learnt.
“This report is the MPS (Metropolitan Police Service) assessment of our actions, our key findings and what work we have undertaken and continue to take forward,” said the Met. However, the report warned that the Special Operations Room (SOR), situated within the Met’s Central Communications Command, is using software that is at least 22 years old.
“The software used within SOR is termed MetOps and was introduced in the 1980s,” said the report. “The age of the system means that it is not linked directly to the software used in the MPS Central Communications Centre (CCC), known as the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system.”
According to the report, MetOps is a messaging and recording system and it was not designed for dynamic incident management. This meant that commanders have no simple way to view the latest situation during an evolving incident.
“This can result in CCC being unaware of what is being dealt with within SOR and conversely SOR being unaware of what is being dealt with through the CAD system,” said the report. “The MetOps system is a messaging and recording system not designed for dynamic incident management. This limitation means that Gold and Silver commanders have no simple way to view the latest situation in an evolving incident.”
It went onto to explain that situation reports are created manually within the system but the software itself does not extract any information itself.
The report highlighted some principal issues for the command team, including the inability to ascertain which sector had the highest work load and demands; the inability to establish where reserves were specifically deployed, how long they had been active; the inability to monitor key incidents; slow communication with commanders on the ground; and the lack of capability to hand over command to the oncoming command team; and finally the inability to log key decisions and rationales for future review.
The Met is now evaluating new technology as part of the future of its command centres, and it was in the process of replacing its Command and Control systems before August 2011 when the riots took place. The force has also proposed some temporary solutions, including a new GIS system which is being trialled to assist with the coordination of resources. The Met is also considering adopting software currently used with live crime investigations for SOR.
However speaking to TechWeekEurope, a Met spokesman confirmed that MetOps would still be in use during the Olympic games.
“Since August we have reconfigured working practices to improve communications and fast time information sharing, these have proved successful during trial events,” said the Met in an emailed statement.
“CAD & MetOps can both be viewed using the same systems, and information moved manually from one to the other. In pre-planned operations staffing levels ensure this role is appropriately resourced,” said the Met.
“The Olympics policing operation is very different to the policing response to the August disorder,” the Met said. “It will be the Met’s biggest ever pre-planned policing operation and there will be a large numbers of officers on duty throughout the Olympic period.”
Efforts to source a replacement of this outdated software will not have been helped when in December, police chiefs rejected the first draft of government’s plan to get a private company to manage the procurement of IT systems for Britain’s police forces. Last September, a damning report from MPs said that the vast number of incompatible IT systems within the UK’s 43 police forces was hindering the fight against crime.
Apology: We know that the Sweeney (pictured above) was actually a 1970s show. Let us know which show we should have used.
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i dont want to piss on your fireworks but the Sweeney TV program was in the 1970s not 1980s so you would have been better showing a picture of Ashes to Ashes
should have used Rockliffe's Babies aired in 87 and 88
Aha, I see our deliberate trolling got a response.
Or. to put it another way, "Shut it, you muppet!" :-)
Peter
Come on it took me three seconds to think of one.
Ashes to Ashes, which would have been clever seems as its a modern day character having to work with 1980's rules.
And as to others like, Bergerac, The Bill, C.A.T.S. Eyes, Dempsey and Makepeace......
Mind you, the way the Met works the probably Cadfael or Miss Marple would be more appropriate!
You're right. I never saw Ashes to Ashes.
I need to watch more TV.
Peter
80s? If this is 22 years old, then it was right at the very end of the decade, so the title is somewhat misleading. If you had said 'early 90s software', which would probably be more accurate, then I guess the story wouldn't have been so sensational.
It's a fair cop gov. We won't make no trouble. You got us bang to rights!
Why not go back to using police boxes
1980's makes the software over 30 years old...
Some provincial forces only moved away from their ex 1950's RAC control room systems ten years ago.So by that rate they're catching up with technology faster.However the buck shouldn't stop with the Policing authorities desire to adopt new technology Its the politicians, principally the Home Offices desire for the Police to "make do with what you've got" principle. They will say absolutely anything to pass the buck back onto each Police force but the fact remains; No extra money, no new technology. Simples.
Seeing as it's from the same creator and ran from 1980 to 1985, Juliet Bravo seems like a suitable candidate (The Bill is the other major 1980s British police show, but that ran a little longer than the eighties!)