USING PDA’S IN TRAFFIC UNIT DELIVERS BENEFIT TO METROPOLITAN POLICE

The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) is the largest in the UK and the second largest worldwide. Dedicated to making London's roads safer, the MPS’ Traffic Unit has numerous areas of expertise including vehicle examination, driver documentation and collision investigation, allowing the identification of dangerous drivers and vehicles and the provision of extensive road safety advice to drivers and pedestrians.

The Traffic Criminal Justice Unit (TCJU) in Sidcup processes the documentation that results from this work - an annual total in excess of 250,000 forms. These forms, completed by officers, are distributed to the TCJU for manual verification before the information is entered into back office systems.
Errors in document completion and subsequent delays in the distribution process occupy a considerable overhead in staff resources.

Existing manual processes required upgrading to improve operational efficiencies. More than 800 Metropolitan Police personnel already access AMT-SYBEX’s Field Data Collection System (FDCS) to support Transport for London in the on-street enforcement of the capital’s “Red Routes”. MPS decided to build upon this fully hosted mobile platform with an operational trial for Traffic Officers in the North-West of London to produce Fixed Penalty Notices, HORT1 and Collision Report Books at the roadside.

“The trial has proved a resounding success with both officers and back office staff. The simplicity of data entry has assisted the officers in increasing the number of tickets that have been issued by approximately 30% and reduced the workload of individuals processing the notices by as much as 70%.”

Commander Shabir Hussain
Head of MPS Traffic & Transport Policing

Fixed Penalty Notices can now be issued electronically for all endorsable and non-endorsable traffic offences such as speeding, using a mobile phone whilst driving, not wearing a seatbelt or driving through a red light. Any road traffic accident involving personal injury requires an officer to capture a complex and inter-related data set. Currently, this data is captured within a comprehensive 44-page collision report booklet.

Where implemented, the trial has successfully streamlined data entry, providing validation at the point of entry and pre-populating many fields. In addition, it has created a seamless process to efficiently produce the ‘Stats19’ collision data required by the Department for Transport. Nearly 1000 Metropolitan Police personnel are now equipped to provide real time, accurate information from the street, which ultimately means tangible time and cost savings and improved service levels.