Issues with new iPads, crime database concern Victoria Police officers
FRUSTRATED cops fear community safety is being put at risk by Victoria Police’s outdated computer systems that force them to send faxes from their desks instead of being on the beat.
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FRUSTRATED cops fear community safety is being put at risk by Victoria Police’s outdated computer system, which forces them to send faxes from their desks instead of being on the beat.
The Herald Sun can also reveal that officers are disappointed at the limitations of new iPads given to them. They cannot be used to send work emails or file crime reports.
The Auditor-General has exposed a litany of issues with the force’s 25-year-old crime database, which requires officers to send faxes to update data about arrests, offenders, related incidents and bail conditions.
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Premier Daniel Andrews admitted more than two years ago that the force’s reliance on old technology was “putting the community’s safety at risk” — and promised to fix it.
The government has since put 4700 iPads and iPhones in the hands of officers, but some say the devices have been a “real let-down”.
The Auditor-General found officers could not file crime reports to the LEAP database from mobile devices, and had to call or fax through updates to their records.
“The lack of interoperability between crime recording systems continues to be a major source of frustration for members,” the Auditor-General’s report says.
Technology failures in the days before the murder of 11-year-old Luke Batty in 2014 sparked a push to improve Victoria Police’s systems.
But one officer said accessible up-to-date information was still “a pipe dream”.
“The next crew to turn up to a family violence incident will still not know that police from the last shift had been to the same house two hours before,” the source said.
Assistant Commissioner Chris O’Neill said the mobile devices helped officers “conduct checks on a person, licence, vehicle and location”.
Mr O’Neill said functionality concerns would be dealt with in upgrades to the “ever-changing and improving platform”.
Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt said the iPad rollout was “promising” but warned that the force was in a “state of transition” on IT and “continued investment” was needed.
Police Minister Lisa Neville said the government was delivering “the biggest increase in technology in the history of the force”, totalling more than $500 million.
“This means they no longer have to rely on outdated technology and can spend their time focusing on preventing crime rather than getting the fax machine to work,” she said.
But Opposition police spokesman Edward O’Donohue said officers still had “one hand tied behind their backs”.