Police Scotland furthers Pronto digital beat in Glasgow

Police Scotland is to introduce a digital application to replace police officers’ traditional paper notebooks in Glasgow, in the latest part of what it says is a major milestone in strategic plans for law enforcement in the country.

The roll-out of the Motorola Solutions Pronto digital policing application suite began earlier this year in Dundee, Perth and Kinross, and will now form part of an overall mobile working solution for officers in Glasgow. The strategy aims to introduce the technology to a total of 10,000 Police Scotland officers.

Using Pronto, police officers will be able to fill in reports directly on their mobile devices for incidents such as crimes, road collisions and traffic tickets. They will also be able to use a handheld device to do many of their key administrative tasks in the field, without returning to the police station.

Motorola says the reduction in the need for officers to move continually back and forth between the field and the station to complete administrative tasks will result in a significant time saving and “dramatic” efficiencies for the force as a whole.

Using Pronto, officers can also directly access local and national police databases such as the Police Command and Control System, the Scottish Criminal History System and the Police National Computer. The technology is already being used by 20 police forces and more than 40,000 officers across England, Wales and the Channel Islands.

“The key for us when deploying any new technology is how it can positively impact the work our officers do in their local community,” said Stevie Dolan, superintendent at Police Scotland. “By rolling out Pronto to our officers in Glasgow, we are significantly reducing the amount of time they will have to spend completing administrative tasks.

“Pronto allows our officers to access the information they need, at the touch of a button, even when they are away from a police station.”    

The Pronto system was designed specifically for front-line operational users. Initially a joint project with Lothian and Borders police, it is the product of ongoing collaboration between Scottish police forces and Glasgow-based Motorola Solutions developers.