R600m boost for Gauteng's 10111

By Leon Engelbrecht, ITWeb senior writer

Johannesburg, 23 Oct 2007

The police will on Monday formally open its R600 million 10111 contact centre at Grand Central, in Midrand. The hi-tech centre replaces six outdated facilities.

The new 10111 centre employs state-of-the-art technology, including a digital trunking system in the place of analogue.

It will use a R506 million digital terrestrial trunked radio communications network to communicate with police in the field. It will also be able to track and monitor the whereabouts of every operational police vehicle deployed in the province.

Police commissioner Jackie Selebi's spokesperson, director Sally de Beer, confirms the centre will be in official use from Monday.

Her Gauteng colleague, director Mac MacLaglan, says personnel have been retrained to operate the new systems that will also be able to track and trace complainants who phone for assistance. New personnel have also undergone training.

Gauteng premier Mbazima Shilowa, in his February State of the Province address, said technology would be deployed in the present year to improve policing.

"We are expecting the new centre to become operational during July 2007 and are confident it will make a substantial contribution to police service delivery in Gauteng," he said.

MacLaglan says a number of hitches conspired to delay the opening from July to October.

Shilowa noted in February that the latest technology would be introduced to ensure each emergency call is attended to as quickly as possible. This includes the introduction of satellite tracking devices in all police emergency response vehicles and radios.

Knowledge is power

Also on the way is a Gauteng Information on Police Performance System (GIPPS) and a Crime Information Management Centre.

The Gauteng Crime Information Management Centre is expected to improve the strategic guidance and support provided to local police stations to tackle cases of violent organised crime. This is intended to improve police detection of perpetrators. The centre is under construction at the police's Gauteng headquarters in Parktown.

The centre will be IT-intensive and use database and business intelligence tools to collect, analyse and disseminate data on reported cases, trends and related information.

Gauteng community safety MEC Firoz Cachalia is also working with the police to support stations in the province that have been identified as struggling with crime and service delivery. "Our GIPPS has been developed and allows us to track crime and police performance in each of the 130 police precincts throughout the province.

"We will use the system to identify the stations that need support and then carefully identify the specific challenges that need to be addressed to improve performance against priority crimes and service delivery. This information will be provided to relevant community policing forums," he added.

It is expected that about 30 police stations around the province will need assistance.

GIPPS is styled after the New York Police Department's CompStat system, deployed in the 1990s.