Guilty…of modernising Police interview processes
Policing is difficult and challenging at the best of times. Officers on the front line have to contend with an incredible array of situations, compounded with the bureaucracy required when dealing with incidents, making many Police activities time-consuming and expensive. The Policing Green Paper, a report building on recommendations by Sir Ronnie Flanagan, proposes the standardisation of key police processes. Jan Berry, appointed as the Independent Reducing Bureaucracy advocate, is tasked with the role of driving the "bureaucracy reducing recommendations" in Sir Ronnie Flanagan’s Review of Policing and to challenge the government and the Police Service to remove and reduce overly bureaucratic requirements. In the report, both the developing and the use of technology for front line officers is identified as one of the key things needed to achieve these gains. Technology needs to be implemented to support service delivery, not other way around. A lot is expected from the Police force and so it is vitally important that they are able to do their jobs in the most efficient way possible.
Digital recording of interviews is one area that is highlighted as a potential technology that can achieve what's set out in the reports addressing issues such as improving processes, reducing both bureaucracy and that of police and administration staffs’ time on outdated tasks. Digital recording is a good example of using advances in technology to reduce bureaucracy in the storage of thousands of taped interviews. It demonstrates a number of business advantages and related cash savings, including easier access to interviews as well as streamlining investigative and judicial processes. The report suggests that business benefits are such that consideration should be given to how and when this technology can be rolled out to all forces, as current systems are now end-of-life.
Damovo has a wealth of expertise in this sector. Our specialists have many years’ operational and strategic policy experience in the Police Service, so we understand how the application of technology can address the financial and operational challenges of today’s policing. Damovo's secure evidential recording for the police is called CODES (Complete Online Digital Evidence System) and was developed in response to failing analogue systems and the National Policing Improvement Agency’s (NPIA) recommendations. It improves the evidence management process from collection through to secure storage and distribution. The solution is also suitable for use by any authority that is required to record evidence from a civil or security services perspective. CODES offers an efficient, intuitive workflow that reduces the number of processes required to conduct interviews and ensures complete integrity of the entire process.
Research suggests that between 60 and 70 percent of all meaning, when we communicate, is derived from non-verbal behaviour while the rest of the communication consists of the words themselves. Physical expressions like waving, pointing, touching and slouching are all forms of non-verbal communication. Humans move their bodies when communicating because, as research has shown, it helps "ease the mental effort when communication is difficult." Physical expressions reveal many things about the person using them. For example, gestures can emphasise a point or relay a message, posture can also be used through such indicators as direction of lean, body orientation, arm position and body openness.
So, having a full complement of audio and video data when gathering evidential information is massively more beneficial than audio only. This additional information can be used more effectively to elicit the truth. For Police training purposes and for understanding how to handle difficult interviewees or repeat offenders video offers the benefit of the whole picture, completing the information available.
As success in the Police will be measured to a larger extent by how well local people believe a force to be doing to address their local concerns, this technology can alleviate time and reduce the costs of some of the front line Police staff thus ensuring saved resource and budgets are spent elsewhere, providing the public with an improved perception of the Constabulary.
Thank you to all of you who have forwarded suggestions for subsequent instalments of Interpreter, these have been duly noted. Please keep up the suggestions and feedback to talktous@damovo.com
