Police IT system two years late as taxpayer millions ‘wasted’

A MULTI-MILLION pound scheme to give people information on how police forces are performing is still not ready, despite being two years late.

The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (Acpos) has admitted the flagship initiative has faced “technical delays”.

The Scottish Government committed £5 million to the performance platform in 2007-8 and Acpos figures show £6.7m has been spent on it in total.

Acpos says the project is currently being adapted for the merger of Scotland’s eight constabularies into a single national force on 1 April, next year.

However, critics have questioned whether it will ever see the light of day.

The performance platform, which Acpos anticipated would be ready for the 2009-10 financial year, was designed to standardise statistics across the eight forces, and the Scottish Crime and Drugs Enforcement Agency (SCDEA), so they could be easily compared.

Police said this would help them to learn from each other and improve while also giving the public easily accessible and up to date information about how their force was performing.

David McLetchie, Scottish Conservative spokesman for justice, said: “This is the latest in a long line of IT projects which failed to live up to expectations.

“I expect this will now disappear into the mists of police reform, now that the decision has been taken, in principle, to go ahead with the move to a single police force, and yet again we will have another public sector write off.

“At the end of the day, a project designed to be up and running two years ago, simply hasn’t delivered the goods.”

Robert Oxley, campaign manager of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, added: “This is yet another example of a government IT system that has cost a fortune but delivered little of value.

“It’s vital that taxpayers are able to scrutinise how they are policed but, thanks to this failed project, they are left none the wiser despite being millions out of pocket for it.

“Police chiefs and ministers need to be clear why this has happened to ensure no more taxpayers’ money is wasted.”

Acpos is receiving support on the project from the Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA), which faced criticism in 2006, when the new version of its Criminal History System, a convictions database, was two years late and several times over budget.

The SPSA, which provides IT support for police forces, declined to comment on the delay to the launch of the performance platform.

Chief Constable Patrick Shearer, lead officer for Acpos on platform performance management said: “The project is being reviewed at the present time to establish where it fits with the requirements of the Police Service of Scotland, which will be established from 1 April, next year.

“There have been technical delays with the introduction of the system, but elements of it as in place and under testing.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman added: “We are aware that the project has suffered delays as a result of technical difficulties and that it is currently being reviewed.”