Though lost, found, stolen and recovered property is not the most exciting of topics, Surrey Police have discovered that the opportunity for enhanced public service delivery coupled with the prospect of a bottom line impact on crime is, says Insp Brian Whicher.
In this article we explore the concept and development of a web based application called "Virtual Bumblebee" (VB) which has been designed to be multi organisational in use and of value to the public through many statutory, corporate, regulatory and voluntary bodies.
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Possessions and the quest for them absorb our lives, but the opportunity to locate items which have been lost or removed from us are severely limited by the lack of joined up, accessible and affordable tools. As the internet crosses all boundaries, it was the logical tool for reporting property missing as well as aiding its identification.
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VB was first created in 1997 specifically for Surrey Police by Dial Media, a Godalming based software group, as a means of display for property which has been seized by the police, or is found and handed in. Whilst some 80 per cent of property seized by the police is not for public display the remainder may be stolen, valuable or sentimental and they are seeking the owners for it.
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As the concept grew, issues of scalability, security and compatibility forced a migration to an SQL database, from Coraider Services of London, capable of providing a cross organisational platform with a public facing URL, serviced by a series of secure administration portals (one for each organisation). This configuration now means that any number of organisations from local authorities to hotel groups, dog kennels to airlines and HM Customs to insurers can use the system simply to search, to report their own, or their customers lost property or display their found property.
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Let’s make this clear. VB is NOT a property management system, but a property advertising and reporting system. There are three stages in the life of an item of property, any or all of which can be performed manually but computerised and together they comprise a suite of applications :
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– Management. This is internal, behind a firewall (if computerised) and often unique to every organisation. It represents the first step in the process. <br>
– External reporting and advertising. This is the role performed by VB. <br>
– Disposal. This is best performed by an internet based auction.<br><br>
Thus the management system would have a button, "Suitable for public display", to progress selected data to VB. VB then has a button "Suitable for auction" to pass the item on and report back to the management system. Therefore VB must interact with both. Such links have been discussed with property management software companies, but not progressed, however firmer links exist with iforce, e-bay’s police property disposal portal.
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The system is however more than an historical, searchable database of property, as it offers any user the ability to register an interest in any number of words. This means that having lost a Rolex watch and failed to locate it, anyone can register the word "Rolex" and the system will notify by e-mail if that word is used in any subsequent entry. Thus making the system both forward and backward looking.
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Whilst the name may not mean much to many, it was used (with consent) from the Metropolitan Police "Operation Bumblebee" anti-burglary campaign and was chosen for two main reasons. First because it has widespread public recognition, and second because it is distinct, individual and does not offend other organisations corporate sensitivities. Other connotations include gathering, care, teamwork, organisation and most importantly an interlocking and interdependent network.
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The next major breakthrough came in October 2001, and was facilitated by Lostpropertyonline.com, when ATOC (Association of Train Operating Companies) supported Virgin Trains in a trial of the system on behalf of the whole rail network. This led to the development of a portal which now feeds back onto the host organisations site (in this case Virgintrains.co.uk). If you visit the site, what you see is Virgin Trains property which has been entered onto VB via their admin site and ported back onto the Virgin trains site. Thus creating a further enhancement for any organisation. This method is respectful of the partners own client base and corporate image.
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The link with the rail industry is strategically significant, particularly in the light of the volume and the spread of property they deal with. In addition the geographic nature of the rail network and recent major incidents, evidence the fact that an integrated property system offers the prospect of aiding the identification of victims, witnesses and offenders.
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Since going live with found property display in 1997, May 2002 saw the launch of lost property reporting and advertising as part of the same application. Input onto the system (of lost items) can be made by the public themselves or by Surreys counter clerks and property officers. The first month saw over 1200 items being registered in Surrey alone.
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The system was not created by a property expert but by a police officer dedicated to crime prevention and partnership working. Woking-based Inspector Brian Whicher, when asked why, said: ‘Over 75 per cent of all crime is property related and the message of prevention is very difficult to ‘sell’ … except when a person has become a victim. They then stand the danger of going into overbuy. I wanted the message of property marking to be made in the right place at the right time, and to link with other organisations." He went on: ‘On one hand I was always warned to avoid property as it has been the downfall of many yet on the other it offers so many opportunities it is mind-boggling and I cannot resist it.’ The system contains advice and contacts, links and behind the secure certificate, a suite of management information tools to monitor the systems usage by both internal users and external visitors. In addition it sends 12 different formats of automated e mails to keep internal and external users informed, each of which can be separately edited to support each organisation in marketing ideas, events and products.
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But how does this affect crime’ You may ask. In a word bicycles. Thousands of these are stolen and recovered each year and rarely do the two get tied together, due to poor descriptions and sheer volume. When a car or a bicycle is stolen it is recorded as a crime, yet unlike cars, a recovered bicycle is "No Crimed" and as such is a number straight off the crime rate.
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PITO (Police Information Technology Organisation) recognised the system as a natural partner to their National on line minor crime reporting system, and offered it for National adoption. This remains under discussion.
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This step represented an enormous evolution from concept through local interesting novelty to a national multi-organisational resource, and should attract some serious funding from government initiatives to promote on-line services. Funds which will be directed initially towards a face lift, marketing, and legal agreements.
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Answering criticism that the site appears confusing and not attractve, Brian says that efforts up to now have focused on getting the process and the database right. It has not been easy to reconcile the terminology as the system services both sides of the property equation in that an item of property at any moment could be described as both ‘lost’ to the owner and ‘found’ to another, then reversing if it is returned. Improvements to the look and feel however will be made.
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June 2002 created both a problem and an opportunity. Up till this time, 16 forces in the UK had used on line auctions as the preferred disposal method through e bay. Unfortunately new owners decided that they would focus on their core business "bid up TV". This left many forces in difficulty.
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It was always planned that VB would feed to a disposal system, and this opportunity seemed too good to miss, so they went for it, and Bumblebee Auctions was born ( http://www.bumblebeeauctions.co.uk ). It was prototyped by August, trailed internally in September and offered to the public to use in October. The system uses an integrated e money process and receives property direct from VB at the end of the display period.
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They have worked on a "easyjet" solution, offering a no frills, collection only service at launch, again concentrating on the engine, not the bodywork.
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What of the future’ Brian says that the sky is the limit with plans for a cut down, downloadable database, dynamic links to automatically search other databases such as bikeregister.com and interfaces with inventory programs through Microsoft web services. Local and county authorities, businesses in the travel, leisure, retail and tourism industries as well as charities are invited to consider the system.
