By Dan Ilett, 30 September 2005 17:00
NEWS Scottish police should buy performance-related IT systems to improve the quality of work, a government report has decided.
The Scottish arm of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) found there was "substantial scope for development in relation to planning and priority setting, particularly at a national level".
Kenny McInnes, assistant inspector of constabulary, said: "The public, now more than ever, demand high standards of policing and expect to be kept informed of how the police are performing at local, force and national levels.
"Best value and the executive's efficient government agenda also dictate that the police service needs to demonstrate that it is providing value for money. That requires accurate, reliable and timely performance information, gathered in a way that does not tie up valuable resources."
Among the recommendations, the HMIC report said the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) should consider the purchase of IT solutions across all forces as a priority. It added that forces and common police services should establish systems to ensure robust performance data can be captured easily.
The current level of spending on policing in Scotland is £1bn.
Comments
There is 1 comment. Join the discussion
1. Roger Huffadine
Oooooh - No we don't demand legue tables as HMIC are suggesting.
Performance tables is a marketing tool peddled by the government and the 'suits' with nothing better to do than secure their own jobs.
We- the great unwashed - are capable of assessing the performance of our local police force by our own local experiences and by using our own local press.
Knowing that the police in some remote corner of the UK are performing better/worse than my local force, based on a subjective judgement that resulted from a bunch of poorly drafted standards is entirely pointless and a waste of my taxes.
When will the suits realise that the application of technology has very little to do with performance?
What we need is police who are allowed to get on with their jobs without the constant interference of 'suits'.
If the local forces screw up then we have an extremely robust legal system and numerous lawyers who will sort the problem out.