Mobile Identity Technology helps New Zealand Police stay out in the Community
New Zealand Police wants its officers to be out in the community with the ability to access the right information at the right time.
During the development of the ICT Strategic Plan, Police identified a need to provide police officers with technology tools to access and manage information while on the job.
Working with Microsoft Services through the Microsoft Innovation Centre, Police put together a mobile solution that allows police officers to query information against a central database while in the field. Using voice activation and biometric recognition technology along with a PDA, the New Zealand Police can empower its mobile workforce with the right information through a secure channel.
Operating 24 hours a day, the New Zealand Police has more than 10,000 people nationwide working to keep local communities safe.
Effectively servicing the community relies on the ability to access information whenever it is needed.
“Our information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure is integral to successful organisational development,” says ICT Manager, Rohan Mendis.
With a view to understanding how ICT could better assist day-to-day challenges, Mendis conducted an organisation-wide consultation which identified that police officers needed better access to information while out in the field.
“Police officers are a mobile workforce. They need timely access to the right information out in the field with the confidence that it is still secure,” says Mendis.
Traditional methods of calling the communications centre to query information while in the field, or travelling back to the station to file information captured, is resource intensive.
“When our police officers want access to the central database, they currently use our radio network to contact the communication centre. As the public can tune into this, it requires any confidential information needed to be passed through a alternative medium.” says Mendis.
“We need to give our workforce secure access to the central database in the field, alleviating unnecessary trips into the station.”
Innovation Centre offers Opportunity
The challenge to make New Zealand police officers better connected was a perfect opportunity to enlist the services of the Microsoft Innovation Centre.
“Microsoft suggested that we put this project to the next funding round for the Innovation Centre, and it was selected.”
As a result of a brainstorming session between the New Zealand Police and Microsoft, a voice activation and biometric recognition based tool was suggested as possible solution to the organisation’s needs. This would be supplemented by a PDA device, as a tool used to access information in the field.
The Innovation Centre project team, including Microsoft Services and speech technology experts VeCommerce,decided to build the prototype, along with a PDA fingerprinting device from Identix that could also collect biometric data for verification against the database.
Mendis says: “The first phase of our ICT strategy was to ensure we havea computing infrastructure in our police cars. The Innovation Centre project allowed us to enhance capabilities for the second and third phases of our mobility strategy.”
Police go Hi-Tech
The resulting prototype provided alternative channelsfor police officers to communicate with the organisation’s central database.
Mendis explains:“The prototype gives police officers access to the central database through voice driven commands. They can read the numberplate of a vehicle of interest and query its details while driving.”
“Officers can also manually access the central database through a PDA, without having to use the radio to contact the communications centre. This is a more secure and effective way of transferring information.”
The speech engine is driven by the beta version of Microsoft®Speech Server 2007 which will be included in the public release of Microsoft Office Communicatons Server 2007.Microsoft Biztalk® 2006 allowed the smooth integration between the organisation’s Websphere infrastructure and the mobile devices. The content is delivered to Microsoft Pocket PC 2003 on the PDA device.
Mendis adds: “I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to integrate into our infrastructure.”
The Future of Policing
The final Microsoft Innovation Centre prototype was beyond what the New Zealand Police expected.
“The result exceeded my expectations. I thought it was going to be quite a challenge to use but it turned out to be very simple,” says Mendis.
The development of multi modal applications for police officers to use, helped to alleviate any concerns around equipment failure. If, for any reason the voice activation doesn’t work, police officers have the option of using the PDA to access the database.
“Police officers are often better at working by dictation than through text. Voice activation and recognition allows them to play to their strength while keeping their hands and eyes free,” says Mendis.
“That’s a great way to unleash the capacity of our police resources, and remove additional paperwork.”
The biometric fingerprint reader was also an interesting experiment for the team.
“This would allow us to collect thumb prints while out in the field and enter these into our database. However, we would need a legislative change before we could use this in New Zealand,” says Mendis.
As a result of the voice activation and PDA project’s success, the New Zealand Police are using the prototype for further testing and will eventually roll out the solution nation-wide.
“The prototype is currently undergoing in-house laboratory testing and we will train the voice activation to access the telephone directory,” says Mendis.
“Voice activation and recognition is a major component of our ICT strategy. Most of the information gathering in the field could be done via voice activation.”
Making the Prototype a Reality
The first phase of the New Zealand Police’s ICT strategy is to ensure all police cars have the right computing infrastructure. By the end of this year, they will have 320 cars fully equipped.Mendis explains:
“We are looking to introduce voice activation in the next year.”
“The solution is not expensive to deploy. We have the voice engine, the right devices in the cars already and a basic infrastructure that has the right integration. It would only be a small incremental cost,” says Mendis.
Most importantly, the Innovation Centre project has resulted in a solution that seamlessly fits in with the overall ICT strategy for the New Zealand Police.
“Mobility enables all of the goals for the New Zealand police for the next five years – that is community reassurance, policing with confidence and organisational development. If we have our officers out in the community then citizens are reassured; if our officers have access to the right information in a timely manner then they have confidence in their work and using our ICT capability is an integral part of our organisation’s development,” says Mendis.
“This kind of technology allows us to undertake more proactive policing.” / “This kind of technology allows us to undertake more proactive policing.”
Rohan Mendis
ICT Manager
NZ Police
Customer Profile
The New Zealand Police is the lead agency responsible for reducing crime and enhancing community safety throughout New Zealand. Their vision is to ‘build safer communities together’, providing services 24 hours a day. The New Zealand Police have over 10,300 staff who respond to more than half a million emergency calls each year.
Web Site
Industry
Government
Scenario
Mobility
Connected Productivity
End-user productivity
Customer Size
Enterprise
Business Situation
An internal ICT consultation in the New Zealand Police highlighted the need for more mobile solutions to support police officers while they were out in the field.
Solution Summary
Through the Microsoft Innovation Centre, the New Zealand Police developed a mobile communication solution that allows police officers to query the central database through voice activation or hand-held PDA.
Value to Business
- Empowers mobile workforce with the right information.
- Reduces resources required to respond to field queries.
- Provides secure channel of communication for confidential information.
- Allows workforce to multi-task.
- Efficient way to capture information.
- Easy interoperability with Websphere infrastructure.
- Low total cost of ownership.
Microsoft® Speech Server 2007 beta (now included in public release of Office Communications Server 2007
Microsoft Biztalk® 2006
Microsoft Pocket PC 2003
Partner Details
Microsoft Services
Ph: 09 3625 800
Web:
VeCommerce
Ph: 09 358 0588
Web:
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