Visitors see police tech in action
Visitors see police tech in action
When a high-powered Sri Lankan delegation visited the country this month, members were keen to catch up on the way New Zealand Police uses technology to enhance our business.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremsinghe led the visit, engaging in top-level talks which have been credited with rebooting relations between New Zealand and Sri Lanka.
Members of the delegation – led by Sagala Ratnayaka, Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister’s Office and Minister of Law and Order – were hosted at Wellington Central Police Station by Assistant Commissioner Mike Rusbatch.
They visited the District Command Centre to learn about how staff are deployed around the district, and the Central Communications Centre – one of the three centres nationwide where calls for assistance are received.
They learned about aspects of Police’s Mobility programme, such as the On Duty suite of apps which allows frontline staff to carry out an increasing number of tasks – such as checks, issuing infringements and traffic crash reporting - on smartphones.
“One thing they were interested in was how we leverage technology and data in the mobility environment to enhance deployment,” says Mike.
“We worked through the process of how calls come in to Police, how they’re prioritised and actioned, the technology that supports them and how at all contributes to the delivery of Our Business.”
Tony Hunt, ICT Business Portfolio Manager, says the Sri Lankan visitors were particularly interested in On Duty and the working of the Comms Centre.
“They were pretty impressed with what we’re doing and how we’re doing it,” he says.
“We made them the offer that if they wanted to send someone over to learn more about the technology we’d be very happy to help them further.”
Pictured:
Law and Order Minister Sagala Ratnayaka with Assistant Commissioner Mike Rusbatch at Central Comms. Photo: Constable Ross Martin, Wellington Forensic Imaging