Scottish police outsource system to Accenture

The Scottish Police Authority and Police Scotland have chosen Accenture to maintain its i6 administration system after two year tendering process.

The i6 system will replace more than 120 IT-and paper-based systems and give the Scottish organisations joined up processes. It will be rolled out to all Police Scotland divisions by late 2015, Accenture will support the i6 system for up to 12 years.

Deputy Chief Constable Richardson, Police Scotland, said the organisations will gain “truly national policing processes supported by a modern IT solution.”

He said the system and its support by Accenture will mean there can be more resources to focus on frontline activities. “There will be efficiencies in terms of streamlining administrative tasks that will free up police officers for frontline activities, allowing them to be more visible and accessible in the communities they serve. In addition, i6 offers us real value for money over the long-term with the introduction of a modern, agile and sustainable ICT solution, which replaces legacy systems operated by the previous forces in Scotland.”

The new system will enable users to manage, analyse and share operational and case information across Scotland.

Police forces have the opportunity to replace old systems to help them cut costs at the back end whilst retaining front-line activities. For example London’s Metropolitan Police needs significant capital investment in technology if it is to overhaul its legacy IT infrastructure, including desktops that take half an hour to boot up. Speaking at a recent meeting of the London Assembly’s Budget and Performance Committee, assistant commissioner Mark Rowley said that 70% f the Met’s technology platforms are redundant, with that figure expected to rise to 90% by 2016. The Met Police has more than 400 separate IT systems currently in use, with some dating back to the 1970s.