The operator claims to have saved Surrey Police more than £7 million in costs
O2 and Airwave Solutions have partnered to help Surrey and Sussex Police improve frontline policing and reporting with specialist mobile technology.
The operator and the emergency service specialist, owned by Motorola Solutions, have replaced paper-based activities used by the Surrey and Sussex police forces for vehicle registration checks, speeding tickets and drug or alcohol testing. More than 1,250 officers at Surrey Police and 1,750 offers at Sussex Police will use the paper-less technology. O2 claims the move to the new system has helped Surrey Police cut costs by £7 million.
According to O2, writing a ticket would take an officer four minutes when using a traditional paper-based system. The new process, which is undertaken on the ‘Pronto’ e-notebook, takes just seconds. The digital system also enables officers to access national police systems alongside local databases across both forces, allowing them to share resources in real time.
“The deployment of Pronto has meant we’ve been able to move officers away from desks and back onto the frontline, the best place to pursue offenders and detect crime, protect vulnerable people, and prevent crime and disorder. Technology has helped us become more accessible and visible to the public we serve and it is playing an increasingly vital role in our mission to make the region as safe as it can possibly be,” said Sussex Police inspector Shane Baker.
O2 enterprise and public sector business managing director Billy D’Arcy added: “As policing budgets continue to be reduced, using resources as effectively as possible is a challenge that every UK police force is being asked to meet. We are very glad to have delivered, in conjunction with our partner Airwave, a solution that has helped both Surrey Police and Sussex Police improve efficiencies while increasing their citizen engagement. By listening to what information was needed to optimise an officer’s time on the frontline we have been able to bring connectivity, devices and information sources together in a way that keeps officers visible within the communities as well as improving speed, accuracy and ultimately the service they are able to deliver across those communities.”