Client | Industry | Product | Employees | Location |
Manchester Police | Law Enforcment | 11.000 | United Kingdom |
The coronavirus pandemic hit the United Kingdom especially hard, resulting in
widespread civil unrest. Even now, as the country gradually lifts its lockdown
restrictions, law enforcement must deal with multiple raves, violent crimes, and
countless assaults. As it often is, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) is on the
frontlines in responding to such incidents.
As one of the largest police forces in the UK, GMP safeguards one of the country’s
most diverse regions. Now more than ever, the force understands the importance of
safeguarding both the general public and its own workers through better processes
and technology. To that end, departmental leadership is constantly on the lookout
for potential improvements.
Modernising the Lines of Contact
Recently, GMP sought to improve coordination and security amongst its officers,
both during crisis scenarios and in the day-to-day.
“During any police response, it’s imperative to match reaction time to the rapid, everchanging
situations that develop,” explains Inspector Darren Spurgeon Business
Change Manager, Mobile Technology for Greater Manchester Police. “We knew
starting out that a system that does this automatically rather than manually would
move us towards a more user-friendly, efficient way of working.”
“In addition to improved crisis management, we also needed a message solution
that would offer the critical security required for the sensitive information that
is communicated,” he adds.
“If you’ve ever worked in police or in crisis management, you’re aware of the need for prompt and efficient communication. You need to be able to reach out to personnel at a moment’s notice and keep everyone in constant contact with one another. BlackBerry has enabled us to achieve this, and to better protect the public in the process.” – Inspector Darren Spurgeon, Business Change Manager (Mobile Technology), Greater Manchester Police
Connected in Protecting the Public
For more streamlined personnel deployment and better emergency response, GMP
chose BlackBerry® AtHoc®, a crisis response platform designed to facilitate two-way
emergency communication and account for personnel. Designed for ease of use,
BBM® Enterprise is a best-in-class messaging and conferencing solution built with
end-to-end encryption and privacy at its core.
GMP tested BlackBerry AtHoc against its existing analogue system as part of an
initial evaluation, reaching out to key task commanders through both platforms. The
exercise showed considerable improvement in response time over the old system.
In light of this, GMP began making plans for AtHoc’s deployment.
Then the coronavirus pandemic struck, and everything changed.
A Lightning-Quick COVID Response
As a result of the pandemic, operations at GMP had to be remodelled nearly
overnight. The vast majority of its support staff now had to work remotely, back office
staff in particular. Given both the mental stress of this disruption coupled
with the very real risks to employee health represented by COVID-19, GMP realised
it needed to adapt – and fast.
“We needed something to help us keep connected with our staff, especially for the
purpose of wellness checks,” says Inspector Spurgeon. “All branch leads across the
force wanted to have an understanding of how personnel were feeling on a day-to-day
basis, and to see if any staff were showing signs of COVID-19. We purchased
11,000 BlackBerry AtHoc licenses and deployed the solution immediately.”
GMP’s wellness team used AtHoc to send well-being alerts to personnel which
included several predefined response options. This allowed the force to focus its
efforts on those who needed help the most. GMP also used the solution to send
out a daily summary of the pandemic for all staff and to coordinate mortuary teams.
More Than Just Crisis Communication
GMP is currently dividing staff into distribution lists within AtHoc based on their
team and skill set, making the coordination of resourcing significantly simpler. In
addition to general scheduling, the force has created distribution lists for special
operations teams such as firearms, traffic units, and armed vehicular response
units. In the case of the former, the force-tested BlackBerry AtHoc by sending out
an urgent resourcing alert to all firearms officers.
Nearly half of all off-duty officers responded in 10 minutes and were on standby
to be recalled.
GMP also plans to use BlackBerry AtHoc to manage weather events such as
floods, which occur frequently in the area, and to manage internal corporate
communications.
Finally, the force is using BBM Enterprise to improve coordination in the field.
Recently, a report of a high-risk Missing Person dropped into the queue. GMP was
able to upload a photo of the missing person and share it securely with every on-duty
officer in the area. They were able to locate the missing person shortly afterwards.
“Crisis Management both internal and external, is an absolutely critical component of any police response. And you cannot have effective crisis management without effective communication. We must be able to, at any given moment, connect with any of our 11,000 staff. BlackBerry AtHoc enables us to do that, and securely – it helps us keep our officers and employees both safer and more coordinated and ultimately makes us more effective as a police force.” – Chris Sykes, Assistant Chief Constable, Greater Manchester Police
The Foundation of a Better Police Response
“With BlackBerry AtHoc, there’s no longer any need to pick up the phone – it’s just
one person managing communication across multiple channels,” he continues.
“And with BBM Enterprise, we’re able to keep officers securely connected in the
field. From emergency notifications to incident activation to general wellness and
communication, it’s improved our coordinated response.”
In the future, Inspector Spurgeon hopes to unify other emergency responders and
key organisations in the Greater Manchester Area via AtHoc® Connect, creating an
inter-organisational communication network for even more effective mobilisation
and greater public safety.
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