Greater Manchester Police have announced today that they will be scrapping parts of their controversial IOPS system

Installed back in 2019 at a cost of £60m Her Majesties Inspectorate of Constabulary ifound it caused a delay in answering 999 calls and “serious” backlogs in dealing with abuse cases.

Problems have surrounded the system and its failure was one of the reasons that the force’s previous chief Ian Hopkins stood down last year.After one upgrade it was reported that police officers were forced to record crimes using a pen and paper.

Chief Constable Stephen Watson made the following statement

Upon taking office as the Chief Constable for Greater Manchester, I committed myself to taking immediate steps to addressing those underlying issues which were undermining our operational performance.  One of the most prominent problems to be resolved related to the PoliceWorks element of the Force’s IT infrastructure, which controls our records management.

It was clear from listening to staff feedback, independent assessment commissioned by the Mayor and HMICFRS, that PoliceWorks was not meeting our requirements, and was hindering our ability to fulfil essential policing tasks. In addition, the contract for the system was signed in 2016 and is due for renewal in June 2023, so we have reached a favourable time to consider change.

Following a lengthy review process involving a technical appraisal and a rigorously evaluated options appraisal, I am confident that we have reviewed every option available to us. I have concluded that, while two-thirds of the original iOPs system is working effectively, PoliceWorks cannot be adapted or fixed to fully meet the needs of our organisation. We therefore intend to move away from the PoliceWorks system and to replace it with a tried and tested product already in use by other forces, rather than the development of bespoke technology.

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