West Midlands Police

Taking policing out into the community

To serve communities more effectively, West Midlands Police adopted a neighbourhood policing strategy. But local officers still needed access to the same information resources as their headquarters-based colleagues.

However, with small community sites across the region served by a variety of low bandwidth connections, accessing critical briefing systems and intelligence databases was either slow – or impossible.

Our resilient, fully-managed Metro Ethernet Virtual Private Network (VPN) service provides a scalable and flexible way to deliver the high-speed, high-performance connectivity needed by neighbourhood police officers – while reducing costs.

Meeting changing requirements with flexible, scalable communications

As well as being the second largest police force in the country, West Midlands is also one of the best performing. Covering the three major centres of Birmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton, it serves a population of almost 2.63 million in an area of 348 square miles. Our sophisticated Metro Ethernet VPN solution is supporting a neighbourhood policing strategy by incorporating community-based police sites into the flexible, high-speed central network.

A local approach

By introducing neighbourhood policing teams, West Midlands Police aims to reach out to local residents – connecting with communities and making them feel safer. Officers work from small local sites ranging from a room at a school or hospital, to a semi-detached house. This presented IT staff with a challenge. "We needed to make sure that the neighbourhood teams have access to all the same facilities they’d have if they were sitting at headquarters – so they can pick up emails, search national crime databases or access briefing systems," explains Kate Jeffries, Communications Manager at West Midlands Police.

However, officers based at smaller community sites found accessing central resources slow and inefficient. "The existing connections didn’t provide enough bandwidth and officers were complaining they couldn’t do their jobs properly as a result," says Kate.

Best-value solution

West Midlands Police looked for a supplier who could help. Drawing on our considerable public sector experience, we were able to meet their requirements precisely. "We needed a cost-effective solution that would fit with our existing network and allow us to increase bandwidth quickly and easily when required," comments Kate. "The Metro Ethernet VPN offered by ntl:Telewest Business was very attractive both in terms of the costs and the technology."

Now officers based at the neighbourhood sites have all the bandwidth they need. And because capacity can be scaled up incrementally, West Midlands Police only pays for the bandwidth it uses, making it a cost-effective solution.

New sites can also be added into the network easily and quickly. "The main contract included around 100 sites but we’ve already added more," comments Kate. "And because ntl:Telewest Business owns and manages the network, we can rely on their expertise to make the necessary changes – freeing up our own IT staff."

Keeping the project on track

Regular meetings between locally based ntl:Telewest Business consultants and West Midlands Police ensured that the project stayed on track. Kate believes that this collaborative approach was key. "We worked very closely together," says Kate. "The ntl:Telewest Business project manager even had a desk here so that he could sit with our IT staff."

The transition went smoothly, and the faster, more reliable connectivity provided by the network is helping users to work more effectively – and efficiently. "We’ve had good feedback from the users – they’ve really noticed a difference," says Kate.

Jenny Dunn, Account Manager at ntl:Telewest Business adds, "Being an emergency service, it’s important that the network’s up and running 24/7. We’ve proven that we can deliver the high level of service that’s required, as well as providing leading-edge technology that works efficiently."

What it has made possible

Kate believes that the project has been critical to the success of the neighbourhood policing strategy. "The Metro Ethernet VPN makes it possible for officers to be based locally," she confirms. "Without it, they couldn’t do their job."

Our 21st century network will also allow West Midlands Police to adopt new applications that will help improve efficiency in future. "We’re looking into running videoconferencing and CCTV over the network. In addition, we’re currently rolling out IP Telephony across all our sites, reducing operating costs," concludes Kate. "As new technologies are developed, we know our network can support them."