Derbyshire Police has acquired two new intelligence-led systems from Nottingham-based police IT specialist ABM UK.
ABM?s Police Informant Management System (PIMS) will be used by the force to enable senior police officers to task individual informants to provide intelligence on drug-related and other organised crime. PIMS is in use at 38 other forces and agencies nationally and internationally, ABM report. It records the credibility of information supplied by informants and measures their performance in terms of quality of information and arrests made.
What they say
Det Insp Geoff Record says: ?Derbyshire police is employing an intelligence-led policing strategy by tasking informants to provide information on a particular problem or crime trend. PIMS enables us to use informants more effectively. It is critically important to ensure the integrity of informant information and make sure those involved are properly and safely handled.?
Covert ops
The force has also purchased ABM?s Covert Operations System (COPS) planned to go into use later this year. Laurence Ansell, Sales Director at ABM, says: ?The COPS IT system has been developed to transform the management of covert operations by saving valuable man-hours and ensuring operational security. ABM will work closely with Derbyshire Police to ensure the system is fully adapted to their specific needs.? Covert operations involve surveillance and decoy operations. COPS is designed to manage these; for example, it allows data to be shared between divisions, making sure there is no conflict of interest or overlap between force units. High levels of secrecy are required for officer protection and COPS ensures data is only accessible to authorised users. This makes sure the surveillance teams cover is not exposed. The system addresses the requirements of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), Human Rights Act 1998 and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, say ABM. Visit www.abm-uk.com
