'Successful' test of over-budget £39m police 999 system in Hampshire

The delayed contact management platform, designed by Microsoft, handled 3,500 calls and was used to deploy officers to incidents.

Shared between Hampshire and Thames Valley police forces, the software is due to replace 20 existing systems.

The News revealed in October that despite being over-budget and spiralling in cost the system had yet to take a 999 call. Emergency calls were being handled by the existing system.

Even now further tests are being carried out. Once the pre-Christmas ‘final testing’ on the Isle of Wight is fully analysed there will be ‘full implementation’ in both counties.

As reported, the cost has grown from £27m to £39m. An extra £3m was put into the budget in 2018 as Fujitsu has been given a support contract.

Hampshire police and crime commissioner Michael Lane said: ‘It has always been important to me that the Contact Management Platform be a true game changer for policing, bringing us into a modern era that better supports the public and enables operationally effective policing.

‘The live exercise on the Isle of Wight before Christmas demonstrated that we are going to deliver and that the system will be warmly welcomed operationally for its enhanced and new features.

‘Going live did demonstrate the value sought from this long-awaited update.

‘Making final testing checks before full implementation has my support.’

The CMP programme director Perry Shears previously told MP Stephen Morgan testing was causing ‘no impact to the current service being provided to the public’.

A Hampshire police spokesman said: ‘The exercise was a huge success with over 3,500 calls taken across the two days and hundreds of crimes recorded.

‘We are currently working through the analysis of the live exercise and final testing stage after which full implementation across Hampshire and the Thames Valley will take place.’