IT system will "cost a lot to get right"

Monday 05 November 2018

Plans for improving Bailiwick Law Enforcement's ICT system are already underway, according to the President of Home Affairs, but the work is going to cost a lot.

Improvements have been earmarked in Home Affairs' Medium Term plan for some time now, but the current system used by Guernsey Police has been put under fresh scrutiny following the release of a report into local law enforcement.

Her Majesty's Inspectorate for Constabularies found that Guernsey's ICT system was "among the worst we have seen", and said throughout its inspection, members of staff repeatedly told them how ICT was affecting their work efficiency. 

"Weaknesses in ICT provision, which are so severe as to make it hard – and in some cases impossible – for staff to do their job." The report.

But Deputy Mary Lowe, the President of Home Affairs, said plans were already underway to improve, upgrade, and replace the current IT system.

"It is going to cost an awful lot to get it all right, but that is all part of the end goal of the medium term plan we have," she said.

"The review says that the IT system needs improving, and that is correct, and we knew that from the start and have already started working on it. Overall it is imperative that we have a very good system in place, but that is going to take time - we are all aware that all of the States systems need improvement." 

The report suggested improving this area would be a major "enabling function" - something Home Affairs asked the Inspectorate to look for when commissioning the report - for law enforcement. 

The report said: "We found computer terminals, network systems and databases that were old, fragile and prone to crashing. System functionality, network storage capacity, processing power, reliability and stability, integration, security and mobile technology capability were all matters of substantial concern.

"In some cases, officers waited weeks for log-on facilities. One officer told us of having had to wait four months to access a database. Vital computer systems can cease to work without notice and for long periods. The Guernsey Border Agency manifest computer didn’t work for two days. It was plainly evident to us that, even if the present systems can be made more reliable, major capital investment is needed to upgrade them. Until the States of Guernsey's ICT is given the level of attention and investment it requires, it will remain a critical issue."

It particularly highlighted how slow systems were a major bottleneck across the board for Bailiwick Law Enforcement in all facets of its work.