New records app a vital time-saver for officers
CREATIVE digital agency Sequence has designed an Android smartphone app for North Wales Police.
Police officers will use it while on patrol to improve efficiency across the force.
The custom-built app, running on Samsung devices, has been distributed to all frontline officers across north Wales. It will give officers instant access to critical information and records held centrally that will enable them to record, update and disseminate information from the scene.
The app was developed with the aim of helping police officers make faster and more informed decisions while dealing with local crime and other public-facing work in the community.
The launch of the app follows a long period of work to understand the operational requirements of the force, which included research, workshops and observation to ensure that the new app is userfriendly from a design perspective.
Richard Shearman, solutions director at Sequence, said: “We’re excited to be working within the entire North Wales Police region from Caernarfon to Holyhead to Wrexham, and helping to make policing – and the lives of those officers using the app – easier.
“Using the app, officers can be more efficient in their day-to-day work, no matter what their level of IT competency.”
The initial release gave officers access to a wide database of people, vehicles and addresses directly at the scene, eliminating the need to request information from another officer at the station.
The current release enables officers to complete victim contact agreements, intelligence submissions and sudden death reports within the app. Welsh versions of the forms that include public interaction are also available to allow officers to provide a language choice to our communities.
Deputy Chief Constable Gareth Pritchard said: “Reducing the bureaucratic burden on frontline police officers is a key priority for us, so any way in which we can support this to increase efficiency and make administrative tasks easier and less time consuming will be a huge benefit to North Wales Police and the communities which we serve.
“Technology is constantly developing and evolving so it’s important that we engage with modern approaches to policing and adapt our ways of working to ensure we offer the best possible service.”
Keith Williams, head of ICT at North Wales Police, added: “North Wales Police is committed to using technology as an enabler for improvements in service delivery, performance and efficiency. The new mobile solution and app supports our strategic IT principles and forms an integral part of our vision for a modern, flexible, digital workplace to facilitate the achievement of the force operational and strategic objectives.”
Sequence, which is part of the Inspiretec group, has enjoyed a number of key business wins recently, including the Ski Club of Great Britain and luxury holiday specialists Abercrombie & Kent.
The company’s founder, Richard Baker, has taken on a new role of group sales and marketing director across the Inspiretec group in addition to his current role.
He said: “Sequence has completed some very exciting projects recently and the North Wales Police project has been a particularly interesting piece of work which illustrates how innovative use of technology can directly impact business service delivery.”
Sequence was established in 1995 and has offices in both Cardiff and London. The firm boasts a wide range of clients from across the UK including the Royal Mint, VisitBritain, Disney, Honeywell and Pinewood Studios. THE pound hit a fresh postBrexit high yesterday, as the UK currency dined off the weakening dollar and employment data pointing to a record number of people in work.
Sterling reached a 19-month high of 1.424 against the greenback during the session, before paring gains to rise 1.5% to 1.420 at the time of the London market close.
The pound was also 0.7% higher versus the euro at 1.145 after official data showed just over 32.2 million people in employment for the three months to November the biggest total since records began in 1971.
However, the FTSE 100 Index fell 88.40 points to finish at 7,643.43, as the pound’s strong performance weighed on blue-chip stocks.
In UK stocks, shares in the London Stock Exchange surged 5% after reports fuelled speculation that the group was in line for a £15bn takeover bid. Sir Christopher Hohn, co-founder of the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, told investors that US rivals the CME Group and the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) may launch a shock swoop for the LSE, according to sources in a Sky News report. Shares closed up 189p to 3,988p.
In contrasting fortunes, Sage Group emerged as the biggest faller on the top flight after investors fretted over weaker than expected first quarter sales.
The business software firm was off 53.2p to 768.2p after reporting 6.3% rise in organic revenues for the three months to December 3.
The group has been held back by its French division, which “continues to significantly underperform relative to the rest of the group”.
Away from the top tier, Fever-Tree suffered a choppy day’s trading after a fizzing morning rally went flat by the closing bell. The premium mixer maker announced that it had seized the UK market’s top spot and backed annual earnings to outstrip forecasts. It said total full-year sales were expected to soar 66% to £169m, underpinned by a rousing performance on home soil.
However, investors took a cautious view of the company’s performance by market close, with shares down more than 1%, or 38p to 2,397p.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 Index were London Stock Exchange Group up 189p to 3,988p, Fresnillo up 49.5p to 1,384.5p, Randgold Resources up 214p to 7,262p, ITV up 3.9p to 168p.
The biggest fallers were Sage Group down 53.2p to 768.2p, Ashtead Group down 66p to 2,086p, BAE Systems down 17.8p to 565.2p.