Police system '˜cutting edge'

It comes as Thames Valley Police confirmed the contact management platform, designed by Microsoft, now has a budget of £32.1m.

Mr Lane previously signed off an extra £1.5m funding when the budget went from £27m to £30m.

Mr Lane said: ‘CMP is a cutting edge system for policing that has been developed together by Thames Valley Police and Hampshire Constabulary in conjunction with Microsoft.

‘It will replace over 20 systems across both forces and help us to work more closely together in meeting the needs of our communities.

‘The agreed joint budget was last approved at £30.6m. Overall budget allocation has now been set at £32.1m and a review of the project and its milestone costs is being undertaken so that I can, should it be appropriate, allocate any additional funding to complete the project to a standard that meets the go-live criteria.

He added: ‘There remain some steps yet to be completed.

‘Although the planned date for Hampshire go-live was set for July, as August is one of the busiest policing months of the year, any delay would need careful planning to set a new best date to go-live.’

* The News yesterday said the Police and Crime Commissioner had not commented on the issue.

The above statement was released but not included due to a production error. We apologise for any misleading impression made.