This time in '99: UK police launch nationwide intranet project

NEWS This is how the original story broke in May 1999: The UK Police Forces have announced stage one of their plans for a fully-fledged nationwide intranet. In a tender released late Friday, Pito (Police Information Technology Organisation) invited software suppliers to provide security for the project. England and Wales' 43 police forces currently have separate, closed intranets. Whoever wins the contract will develop a single log-on feature for any or all of them, enabling them eventually to join together via a Web interface. Inspector Simon Pratt, speaking for Pito, told Silicon.com: "The solution will provide authorisation and identification services for future applications. These applications may be available to a police force on its own intranet, or available across force boundaries - via an extranet. In due course, where appropriate, they will be made available to the public on the Internet." Pratt added that applications for recording crime and custody and even the Police National Computer would eventually be Web-enabled. The five-year contract has already attracted interest from suppliers. Dwight Galler, marketing director of US-based Netegrity, said: "This application is right up our alley. It would leverage all the capabilities of our flagship product, SiteMinder." Pito has set 25 June as the deadline for applications. It will release a shortlist of suppliers in August and hopes to award the contract by the end of the year.