Case Study

The Critical Importance ofEffective Communication inCoordinating a Police Response
GMP
Vertical:
Law Enforcement
Employees:
11,000Location:
United Kingdom
Product:
BlackBerry® AtHoc®,
BBM® Enterprise

The coronavirus pandemic hit the United Kingdom especially hard, resulting inwidespread civil unrest. Even now, as the country gradually lifts its lockdown
restrictions, law enforcement must deal with multiple raves, violent crime, andcountless assaults. As it often is, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) is on thefrontlines in responding to such incidents.
As one of the largest police forces in the UK, GMP safeguards one of the country’s
most diverse regions. Now more than ever, the force understands the importance ofsafeguarding both the general public and its own workers through better processes
and technology. To that end, departmental leadership is constantly on the lookout
for potential improvements.

Website:https://www.gmp.police.uk/

Modernising the Lines of Contact
Recently, GMP sought to improve coordination and security amongst its officers,
both during crisis scenarios and in the day-to-day.
“During any police response, it’s imperative to match reaction time to the rapid, everchanging situations that develop,” explains Inspector Darren Spurgeon BusinessChange Manager, Mobile Technology for Greater Manchester Police. “We knew
starting out that a system that does this automatically rather than manually would
move us towards a more user-friendly, efficient way of working.”“In addition to improved crisis management, we also needed a message solutionthat would offer the critical security required for the sensitive information thatis communicated,” he adds.

Connected in Protecting the Public
For more streamlined personnel deployment and better emergency response, GMP
chose BlackBerry® AtHoc®, a crisis response platform designed to facilitate two-way
emergency communication and account for personnel. Designed for ease of use,BBM® Enterprise is a best-in-class messaging and conferencing solution built with
end-to-end encryption and privacy at its core.
GMP tested BlackBerry AtHoc against its existing analog system as part of an
initial evaluation, reaching out to key task commanders through both platforms. The
exercise showed considerable improvement in response time over the old system.
In light of this, GMP began making plans for AtHoc’s deployment.
Then the coronavirus pandemic struck, and everything changed.

A Lightning-Quick COVID Response
As a result of the pandemic, operations at GMP had to be remodeled nearly
overnight. The vast majority of its support staff now had to work remotely, backoffice staff in particular. Given both the mental stress of this disruption coupledwith the very real risks to employee health represented by COVID-19, GMP realised
it needed to adapt – and fast.
“We needed something to help us keep connected with our staff, especially for thepurpose of wellness checks,” says Inspector Spurgeon. “All branch leads across theforce wanted to have an understanding of how personnel were feeling on a day-today basis, and to see if any staff were showing signs of COVID-19. We purchased
11,000 BlackBerry AtHoc licenses and deployed the solution immediately.”“Crisismanagement,“Ifyou’ve
everworked inpolice or in crisis
management,
you’re aware of theneed for promptand efficient
communication.
You need to beable to reach out
to personnel at amoment’s noticeand keep everyone
in constant contactwith one another.
BlackBerry has
enabled us toachieve this, and tobetter protect thepublic in theprocess.”– Inspector Darren Spurgeon,
Business Change Manager(Mobile Technology),
Greater Manchester Police

GMP’s wellness team used AtHoc to send well-being alerts to personnel which
included several predefined response options. This allowed the force to focus its
efforts on those who needed help the most. GMP also used the solution to sendout a daily summary of the pandemic for all staff and to coordinate mortuary teams.

BlackBerry

Case Study: GMP | 2More Than Just Crisis Communication
GMP is currently dividing staff into distribution lists within AtHoc based on theirteam and skill set, making the coordination of resourcing significantly simpler. In
addition to general scheduling, the force has created distribution lists for special
operations teams such as firearms, traffic units, and armed vehicular responseunits. In the case of the former, the force tested BlackBerry AtHoc by sending out
an urgent resourcing alert to all firearms officers.
Nearly half of all off-duty officers responded in 10 minutes and were on standby
to be recalled.
GMP also plans to use BlackBerry AtHoc to manage weather events such as
floods, which occur frequently in the area, and to manage internal corporate
communications.
Finally, the force is using BBM Enterprise to improve coordination in the field.
Recently, a report of a high-risk Missing Person dropped into the queue. GMP wasable to upload a photo of the missing person and share it securely to every on-duty
officer in the area. They were able to locate the missing person shortly afterwards.

The Foundation of a Better Police Response“With BlackBerry AtHoc, there’s no longer any need to pick up the phone – it’s justone person managing communication across multiple channels,” he continues.
“And with BBM Enterprise, we’re able to keep officers securely connected in thefield. From emergency notifications to incident activation to general wellness andcommunication, it’s improved our coordinated response.”
In the future, Inspector Spurgeon hopes to unify other emergency responders andkey organisations in the Greater Manchester Area via AtHoc® Connect, creating aninter-organisational communication network for even more effective mobilisationand greater public safety.

“Crisis management,
both internal andexternal, is anabsolutely criticalcomponent of any
police response. And
you cannot haveeffective crisis
management
without effectivecommunication. We
must be able to, at any
given moment, connect
with any of our 11,000
staff. BlackBerry AtHoc
enables us to do that,and securely – it helps
us keep our officers
and employees bothsafer and morecoordinated, andultimately makes us
more effective as apolice force.”– Chris Sykes,Assistant Chivef Constable,
Greater Manchester Police

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