Public Sector Roundup: Plate scanner cuts crime

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ANPR system cuts crime at Manchester mall

The Trafford Park shopping Centre in Manchester has seen a 65 per cent drop in vehicle crime after installing an Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system from Civica.

The £285,000 ANPR was partially funded by the Home Office, and has cut such crimes from 40 per month to eight. Since it was deployed in 2003, it has lead to the arrest of 100 offenders and the return of 100 stolen cars.

The system uses the shopping centre's CCTV as well as specialised cameras to take pictures of number plates, which are simultaneously compared with records of vehicles related to crimes.

Mark Aspin, Strategic Development Manager at Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council, said: "We had a police target to decrease car crime by 30 per cent, so to have bettered the target by more than double is great news for the local community and people visiting the Trafford Centre... Civica's ANPR system has also helped with other sorts of acquisitive crime such as shop lifting and credit card theft, as well as helping convict criminals for armed robbery offences."

Barking patients get text reminders

Barking and Dagenham Primary Care Trust is offering local GPs access to iPLATO's Patient Care Messaging platform so they can send appointment reminders and other health information to their patients.

The system, funded by the PCT, will let patients reply by text if they need to cancel appointments and will send out messages about health concerns including smoking, flu and immunisations.

Dr J John, GP at the King Edwards Medical Centre, and one of the 13 practices who have already signed up to Patient Care Messaging, said: "Mobile phones are used by a lot of our patients and so text messaging is an effective way to communicate with them... This service has the potential to increase significantly the number of patients attending clinics as well as saving on surgery administration costs."

Wigan gets £400,000 customer service

Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council has invested £400,000 into a four-year contract with software and services firm Northgate to manage customer relationships.

The contract is expected to help council employees resolve 80 per cent of customer problems at the first point of contact, as well as cut costs and allow for more flexible working.

Peter Livesey, assistant director of finance and IT at the council, said: "Wigan council is committed to delivering a sustainable programme of improvements based on our citizens' needs."

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