Every second counts in an emergency situation, and may even be the difference between life and death in certain situations. For members of the public waiting for a response –minutes will seem like an eternity. 

When somebody calls South Wales Police, their very first contact will be with a dispatcher based within South Wales Police’s Public Service Centre who is responsible for ensuring that officers and police community support officers take the most appropriate action to address a situation. 

But to do that quickly – ensuring they are using the best technology available is critical. 

In November 2015 South Wales Police became the very first police force to deploy ControlWorks®, our latest generation integrated Contact and Control Room platform, to demonstrate its ongoing commitment to make South Wales safer and to build on its ambition to be the best at responding to the needs of its communities. 

About ControlWorks  

The ControlWorks® solution has been developed around the concept of a Record of Contact (RoC) that acts as the single collation record for all contact with the member of the public through whichever medium contact is made – emergency or non-emergency calls, text or email – and is therefore able to quickly identify patterns of repeated contact and flag these immediately to the call handler so that evaluation of Threat, Harm and Risk (THRIVE) can be undertaken to ensure the most appropriate response.  

The ControlWorks® RoC doesn’t work in isolation. Integration and intelligent searching of the force’s Niche Records Management System and other data sources provide the call handler with immediate Person, Object, Location and Event (POLE) information together with any warning markers so that the most appropriate decisions can be taken in the shortest time possible whilst maintaining officer and public safety. 

Integrated mapping and a link to the force’s gazetteer provides an immediate visualisation to the call handler of the incident location, which is used to select the closest, available resource and, through integration with the force’s HR Duty Management System, this is further enhanced with the skills and training of the resources so that the most suitable is deployed to the incident. 

All this data is presented to the call handlers and dispatchers in a clear, usable interface that can be configured around the roles and access requirements and managed simply by the system administrators. 

A Productive Partnership

As the first force to deploy ControlWorks®, South Wales Police were at the forefront of its development.  Paul Eggleton, Managing Director:

“Our partnership with South Wales Police in the development of ControlWorks® has, without doubt, helped develop a product that is now at the vanguard of best practice around the world and will continue to realise tangible operational benefits for all our clients for many years.”

Future developments already in progress will further extend the capabilities of ControlWorks® to:

• Fully exploit the voice and data capabilities of the Emergency Services Network
• Further integrate with supporting policing systems to provide operational efficiencies and flexibility
• Operate in collaboration with local and regional partners
• Support future digital services and engagement through public self-service

Since South Wales Police became a client we have successfully deployed ControlWorks across the UK to large Police Forces and a National Response agency.

Find out more about our Integrated Control Room Software and how ControlWorks can improve your control room operation.