Advanced telematics in the police by APD Communications

Northamptonshire Police has signed a contract to implement ARTEMIS, APD’s resource and information management portfolio.

First released in April this year, ARTEMIS will assist the Force in promoting best practice, efficiency and cost reduction.  At the same time, a three year national framework agreement has been awarded to APD for supplying ARTEMIS to police forces in England and Wales.

With a £20 million reduction in operating expenditure required over a five year period following the 2010 Comprehensive Spending Review, Northamptonshire Police needed to find new and innovative ways to reduce costs whilst maintaining and improving services.

The Force anticipated that the acquisition of advanced telematics and process management technology would lead to substantial savings for its police vehicle operations, at the same time as improving frontline services and overall efficiency.

Having completed the initial round of tendering, the competing solutions were required to demonstrate their ability to improve fuel economy, adhere to servicing intervals, provide more detailed reporting of incidents and offer real-time feedback about driver behaviour.

Following an intensive evaluation process, APD’s solution was judged to be the most compliant and scored the highest marks of all 12 rival bids across the selected criteria.  As a result, APD was awarded the contract to supply the telematics solution to Northamptonshire Police, and to any other police force under the terms of the framework agreement.

“We selected ARTEMIS for its comprehensive feature-set, overall affordability and its compatibility with back-end systems,” said Graham Crow, Head of Transport & Travel at Northamptonshire Police.  “APD is a very professional organisation and its long-standing experience in police and emergency vehicle communications really shone through.”


                        _{Screenshot ARTEMIS}

Developed by APD specifically for the UK Police, in close cooperation with the ACPO ITS Working Group and the One Box Consortium, ARTEMIS will initially be installed in Northamptonshire’s test and training vehicles.  The Force’s fleet of 370 police vehicles - used by around 1,000 officers - will be fitted with the ARTEMIS solution by March 2013.

Modular in design, ARTEMIS is unique in the market, featuring automatic vehicle tracking (AVLS), incident data recording (IDR) as well as vehicle information capture for efficient resource analysis and preventative maintenance. The system is also compatible with the most popular police applications including those used by Northamptonshire Police: Civica’s Tranman Fleet Management application, Steria’s STORM command and control and Northgate’s mapping software.

A key component of APD’s ARTEMIS solution is a police-specification Driver and Vehicle Management System (DVMS) that will promote accountability and economical driving behaviour in non-emergency situations. By identifying where driving habits can be improved, officers can adapt their behaviour to increase fuel efficiency and reduce wear and tear on vehicles.

Other features include:

• Live resource tracking
• Key performance indicators
• Comprehensive reporting
• Vehicle condition reporting
• Incident data recording
• Cross-Border Connect
• Silent dispatch with SATNAV

Source: APD Communications