New Software for Faster Emergency Responses

Collaborator, software developed by Extent Software, will allow information to be shared electronically between the emergency services, has just been adopted by Gloucestershire, Sussex and Northamptonshire police forces, with fourteen other forces around the country having expressed an interest.

The software, which was trialled by Gloucestershire Police and the Highways Agency, was developed with the assistance of a Knowledge Partners East of England (KEEP) project, funded by the East of England Development Agency (EEDA), which is a three-way partnership between a company, a local university and a recent graduate.

According to Chris Pine at Extent Software, the new system which was developed with the assistance of University of Hertfordshire Associate, Ruoyo Wu, will provide an electronic data transfer between the different systems without having to re-key any data. A web based module for collaborator will allow incidents to be created and shared remotely without having to go back to HQ or a police station. Other modules will include collaborator for mobile device and a mapping module to share incidents and resource information regionally.

“Collaborator has now moved from a pilot to a “live” product,” said Mr Pine. ‘We now know it works, so its credibility has been established with other Police forces expressing an interest.”

One of the most significant aspects of the project is the vast time savings it will incur, since information need only be inputted once and a simple touch of a button will ensure that the collaborating agency (in this instance, the Highways Agency or indeed any number of agencies) will receive all of the information necessary to provide an efficient incident response, removing the need for voice communication.

“This is a new modern approach for integrating applications based on XML technologies which will allow these life-saving agencies to communicate in a more effective manner,” said Dr Saward.