Police Portal has been cancelled by NPIA

Thursday, December 20, 2007

The National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) has scrapped an online crime reduction system.

Called the Police Portal, it linked dozens of police forces across the UK and allowed the public to provide intelligence information, report hate crime or non-emergency incidents via a secure link.

Speaking to Computer Weekly, an NPIA spokeswoman said the service was no longer available. The NPIA have also cancelled a contract with Qinetiq for the system’s replacement. The spokeswoman cited legal reasons for its cancellation.

A spokesman for Qinetiq said that he was unable to comment other than to say that his organisation is in a legal dispute over the replacement system.

The system was hailed as a success during the 7/7 bombings, with the police using it to send key messages to teams and the public being offered the facility to send digital photos and videos to help the police in their investigations.