Cloud technology has had a few knocks recently; Apple has been hit especially hard this year with well-publicised hacks into their icloud storage and the consequent publishing of the private photographs of around 100 famous women. But cloud-based technologies and platforms should not to be feared, there are many lessons that can be learnt from a year that saw no end of hacking stories. If the systems supporting your cloud are strong and secure then it should be much more secure than your laptop, static desktop or your mobile device.

What has cloud technology got to do with the criminal justice system you might ask? How can it benefit police forces, Community Rehabilitation Companies and the agencies that work with them? For so long the shrouded and closed world of policing and criminal justice was something the public simply believed in as a matter of course. However, times change and the needs and expectations of the public also change – we are in the era of transparency and the public expect so much more for their tax dollar.

By embracing cloud technology criminal justice agencies can open themselves up to new ways of working and improving the way they interact with the multitude of agencies they must work with in order to protect vulnerable people. How often have we seen the headlines about a lack of communication between agencies leading to victims ‘falling through the gaps in the system’? There should be no such gaps and cloud technology, that allows all the right people to access it, should ensure this is the case.

By the very nature of their business criminal justice agencies are especially wary of how the data they hold and information about the work they do is handled. However, in recent years a huge opening up of the system has happened here in the UK. Police forces are now embracing social media as a means of both investigation and engagement. This has even included various police forces having entire 24 hour periods where every 999 call is tweeted to the public – something that was unthinkable a few years ago. Most Community Rehabilitation Companies can also be found to have engaging websites, twitter feeds and You Tube channels.

But can these agencies really put their trust in storing and accessing data, sensitive meeting notes, MAPPA (Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements) outcomes, actions and details in a cloud-based system? The answer should be yes – it is far safer this way than in dusty, paper-based documentation that gets dragged across counties to meetings, left on public transport, or left lying on the front seat of a car. If you choose the right cloud-based platform then your information is not only safer, it is also more accessible to yourself and your partners.

There are, of course, many forward-thinking organisations that are already using cloud based technology and to great ends. Merseyside Police and The Government Intelligence Agency Network (GAIN) use our platform, pam, for one of the most sensitive areas of work the police do – tackling serious and organised crime. If a large metropolitan force and an agency that brings together many criminal justice organisations can trust in a cloud platform to share intelligence elegantly and therefore help dismantle and disrupt organised crime groups without fear of exposure then no public sector organisation can argue against its merits.

Financial cutbacks are an ongoing reality for all public sector agencies and we should embrace a system that, among other efficiencies, allows for the cutting down on time-consuming, face-to-face meetings where people from various organisations return to their desks and create numerous versions of the truth on their own, individual IT systems. The potential for making huge efficiency savings, beyond that of just cutting down on face-to-face meetings, is a real possibility.  There is a real opportunity for organisations such as CRCs to embrace cloud technology in order to deliver the government’s directives under the Transforming Rehabilitation programme. Cloud enabled change is helping to drive down costs and deliver better services in some of the most challenging areas. For example serious and organised crime is a battle that costs society £24bn per annum, the rewards for making savings in these areas are not to be ignored.

If we are to continue to be wary of innovations like cloud technology we will close our eyes to the possibilities it can offer. There is no need to be cautious of the cloud itself, as John Seddon wrote in a recent issue of The MJ Magazine but perhaps to exercise caution over who provides your cloud.

If we were starting the public sector from scratch, now, we wouldn’t begin with what we currently have, so, it’s time for us to embrace a new way of working. If 2014 was the year the public sector trust began to believe in social media then 2015 may be the year of the cloud – or at least the year the cloud gains the trust of the public sector.

In 2015, when you’re looking for your cloud-based platform, you should look for these key things:

• A pan-government, PSN accredited service that is trusted to work across all justice agencies and available across all government secure networks;
• a system that allows you to work up to a RESTRICTED IL3/OFFICIAL SENSITIVE platform;
• an organisation who is and whose products have the UKAS certified information management accreditation: ISO 27001:2013;
• an organisation that is more than just a tech supplier but can be a trusted partner, someone who can help you innovate, implement behaviour change and help you work more efficiently and effectively;
• a platform and an organisation that enables and enriches collaboration and partnership working and that has a rich understanding of the work that needs to get done.

To find out more about pam click here or call us on 01273 704500 or email enquiries@pam-it.com

Read more:

• Life-saving cloud: delivering criminal and social justice better, together
• 5 areas where a Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) must excel for success