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he ability of the Airwave Service to provide ‘one to many’ as well as ‘one to one’ communications is one of its key differentiators, enabling the creation of incident or user group specifc talkgroups. These are invaluable in assisting in the effective management of major events, planned or unplanned, when many blue light personnel and mutual aid agencies need to undertake carefully co-ordinated activities under extreme pressure. However, using talkgroups in other situations can lead to unnecessary Network loading and control room confusion, as well as impeding other Airwave functionality such

as telephony. Noisy talkgroups can also lead to offcers using their mobile phones as alternatives, which disrupts accepted processes. Strathclyde Police – now part of Police Scotland – have adopted the use of status messaging to provide basic status updates, resulting in more effcient talkgroups and less use of traffc units, resulting in signifcant cost savings.

Status messaging is available on all Airwave terminals via a ‘hot key’ or menu option. The Strathclyde force has showed that its use can improve incident response time, automatically update Command and Control and resource location tools (ARL), and save operator time in the area control rooms (ACR). The incident handling process using status messaging has been detailed by the force as follows: »» Incident details text to offcers’ terminals (Mobilisation Message from Command & Control) »» Offcers update by status message when “At Scene” (Press & Hold 1)

»» Updates terminal location on ARL »» Message routed through Command & Control to update attendance time

»» Offcer updates when “Available / Clear” (Press & Hold 4) when update passed to ACR

»» Offcers’ status updates on ARL to show as available This approach removes traffc from talkgroups and reduces traffc unit usage. Accurate incident attendance times are recorded, giving improved performance statistics, and back offce staff no longer need to manually update logs and incident records. Status messages are also being used for PNC checks, with callback requests sent to the PNC Operational Unit. This had led to increased utilisation of the PNC as the process is more effcient Prior to the creation of Police Scotland on 1 April 2013, Strathclyde Police had increased their use of status messages from 107,765 in 2009 to 193,168 in 2012. Status messages are not charged for, an arrangement to continue under the new billing structure currently being introduced (see article on page 1). Overall this will enable the force to better manage their costs through accurate prediction of usage, based on historical data, and offer greater responsiveness to feetmapping changes and the ability to identify usage costs more immediately.

Sharing best practices means more users can beneft from greater effciencies, more effective use of resources, and a positive impact on the bottom line. Our Reach team has been talking with Police Scotland, the Highways Agency, and Cheshire Constabulary to see how the increasing use of data is changing the way they work. Read on for the details in this series of ‘Sharing Best Practices’ articles.