The ICT Department provides us with IT and Communication systems together with technical support and advice. ICT is embedded in virtually every aspect of our business and it would be hard to imagine how an effective policing service could be delivered without it today. To that end, the ICT Department endeavours to put police officers and police staff central to its role, providing a range of services with the reliability and flexibility that a modern police service can trust.

• The priorities of the current ICT strategy are:
• To help deliver the Vision, Pledge and Principles
• Maintain business as usual and to improve service quality (doing more for less)
• To support the current strategy and corporate programme
• Collaboration work with our preferred partner, Suffolk Constabulary
• Collaboration work with the region (main themes are Crime and Intelligence and Operational Data Store, improving the Police National Database and improving Management of Police Information)
• Support national initiatives that will result from the 2008 Green Paper
• To carry out research and develop new and emerging technologies that may bring benefit.

The ICT Department provides IT applications and tools and Airwave radio and telephony to over 50 stations and other police sites across Norfolk. Where possible this is provided across our secure microwave infrastructure in order to reduce costs. Some key services are:

• 999 emergency contact
• 0845 456 4567 non-emergency contact
• Communications between officers and other Forces is vital and we use the secure, national ‘Airwave’ service.
• Contact and Control Room systems for managing incidents. These include contact and telephony systems, integrated Despatch functions, integrated mapping and vehicle location systems.
• Safer Neighbourhood support
• Crime management and recording
• Intelligence and analysis
• Custody management
• Preparation of cases for the Crown Prosecution Service
• Special Branch and Counter-terrorism systems
• And many other systems to underpin our operational policing and support of the organisation
• Connectivity to National networks and systems

The ICT Department is based at police headquarters in Wymondham. We have over 70 staff across all the typical skills that an IT Department needs – including Service Desk, Technical Support, Communications and Telephony, Project Management, Infrastructure Management and Systems Development. We also have some specialist functions for specific police needs, including vehicle communications and some covert installations.

The National Policing Pledge requires all police forces to ensure that local neighbourhood policing teams are visible in their communities. Norfolk is reviewing the options to enable officers with mobile computers to provide access to vital, central information and to reduce the need to return to station to complete paperwork.

We are increasingly looking to share services with other Eastern Region Forces. This improves our capabilities around serious and organised crime and provides more resource for major incidents. ICT is playing its part in this work by ensuring appropriate systems and data are shared.