Met Police will use 1980s software during 2012 Olympics

Gill Hitchcock

The Metropolitan Police Service will use software from the 1980s to coordinate the command and communications of its policing operations during the London Olympic Games.

The software, known as MetOps, is installed in the force’s special operations room (SOR), the central control room providing communications support during more than 500 major incidents and events each year, according to a report by the Met into the riots of August 2011.

MetOps, a messaging and recording system, was not designed for dynamic incident management, and means commanders have no simple way to view the latest situation during an evolving incident, the report says.

The age of MetOps system means that it is not linked directly to the software used in the force’s central communications centre, known as the computer aided dispatch (CAD) system. (more on guardian.co.uk)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/government-computing-network/2012/mar/16/met-police-using-80s-software