Officers at Durham Police have been obtaining force-wide efficiency savings through using the SentrySIS Remote Telephone Statement Taker software where in September 2019 the total number of remote statements taken exceeded the 4,500 mark. This landmark figure has resulted in huge cost & efficiency savings for the constabulary.
The force, who have been rated ‘Outstanding’ by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) for the fourth consecutive year running, have been conducting MG11 witness statements over the telephone with members of the public since 2017. The key benefit of the solution negates the physical need for police officers to travel and conduct a statement with a witness or victim in person.
Once officers have assessed the appropriateness of conducting a statement over the telephone, the cloud-based system provides a simple interface for officers to collect the required information relating to the incident for further investigation.
During the call, the officer also has the ability to send the recipient a secure media transfer link allowing the witness or victim to send digital evidence such as CCTV video and/or still images as exhibits to the police whilst part of the statement taking process. This prevents additional future physical contact between both parties if digital media is required at a later date as part of the investigation.
On completion, the witness or victim receives a secure ‘password-protected’ viewable version of the statement. This can be amended by the police or approved by the witness or victim before the statement is securely transferred back to the police as an official MG11 Witness Statement with a digital signature.
SentrySIS Strategic Lead for Durham Police, Detective Superintendent Kevin Weir commented and said “As a force, we have embraced new digital technologies that we have at our disposal to ultimately improve the service we offer. The SentrySIS platform has been well received by all officers at Durham Police and this has been clearly demonstrated by the cost and efficiency savings we see today. The software has helped officers become more productive in their daily investigation tasks under what are widely documented ongoing pressures within policing.”
The software provided by the Leeds based company Sentry Secure Intelligence System Ltd (SentrySIS), forms part of a wider suite of police efficiency saving tools which allow police constabularies in the UK to conduct essential investigative tasks in a much more modern and efficiency way.
Efficiency savings within the platform are equated through eliminating officer travel time, fuel expenditure and other transportation costs that would have been incurred using the older ‘face to face’ methods.
Co-founder and Director at SentrySIS, Chris Nriapia commented and said “Working with Durham Police we gradually rolled out the software to high demand police teams in the force area. To reach the 4,500 mark of remote telephone statement taken is a real milestone for all involved. This has not only allowed Durham Police to assign much needed police resource to other frontline services, but has given the public additional options when having to give statements to the police at times more convenient to them. This has improved the service Durham Police provide to people across the county, which was already one of the best across the country.”
Due to the software having no geographical limitations or boundaries, statements have been conducted with witnesses from across the UK and further afield including Australia, Singapore and other Far East Asia locations.
The SentrySIS Police Efficiency Saving Software comprises of a range of other solutions to help UK-based police constabularies operate more efficiently. These include the secure digital transfer of large CCTV video files from holders of public CCTV such as local town, city or borough councils and direct online crime reporting for shop theft from national retailers.
For more information on the SentrySIS Police Efficiency Saving Software and for a free police trial of the software, please email info@sentrysis.com
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