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Story URL: http://www.silicon.com/publicsector/0,3800010403,39186788,00.htm

'CopNav' to track Met's police officers
Tagged on the beat

By Nick Heath

Published: Friday 11 April 2008

Every police officer in London is to be tracked using a new electronic tagging system that will be able to pinpoint their location out on the beat to within a few feet.

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The £2.2m scheme will see the Metropolitan Police Service's 31,500 officers have tags fitted to their radio microphones from this autumn.

The Automated Personal Location System, dubbed 'CopNav', is the first of its kind in the UK and will allow an officer's location to be rapidly pinpointed to a few feet within the 620-square-mile beat.

The Met's tracking ability is currently limited to monitoring the whereabouts of squad cars.

If a pilot of the system in two London boroughs is successful this autumn the system will be rolled out for every officer across London.

A spokesman for the Met told silicon.com: "It will give us the ability to locate our officers extremely swiftly and provide a more effective way of utilising our resources. It will be particularly useful if officers need urgent assistance, we can locate them more definitively rather than having to rely on their last call-in."

In news reports the Metropolitan Police Federation - the body representing the rank and file officers in the force - has raised concerns about the privacy implications of the scheme.

But the Met's spokesman said the force is consulting with the Federation about the scheme and is considering its views. He added the pilot would ensure the system was secure and worked effectively within the city's built-up environment.

The Metropolitan Police Federation refused to comment.

The system is being implemented by technology company Telent and is being funded by the Met.