Credit: Ivan Radic/CC BY 2.0

Three police forces in south-east England are seeking to implement technology that would allow citizens to provide officers with a live stream of ongoing incidents.

Forces in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire wish to identify and deploy “a live-streaming service that gives members of the public the ability the live stream from their device without the need of an app on the recipient’s device”. The system must also allow citizens to upload video and audio files, while providing officers with live location data from users’ phones.

The forces also want to find a service that offers the provision of a live video feed via an app installed on officers’ work devices, which should include a messaging service as well. Live and recorded video should be viewable via the app, or on a web browser.

The platform should also be able to “ingest and display live video from third-party video sources such as drones, dash cameras, action cameras, body-worn video” and other sources.

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The forces are seeking technology that can deliver “multi-participant video-based consultations internally [and] externally without the need of any software [or] app on the recipient’s device”.

The platform should also be “fully auditable”, and generate reports on audits conducted.

Video must be stored in a manner compliant with the Management of Police Information principles and the service must offer “the ability to amend user privileges on a granular level”.

The ultimate aim of implementing the technology is to make it easier for officers to “identify and capture the culprit” in an ongoing incident.

Potential suppliers are invited to bid for the project until midnight on 21 October. A contract – of as yet unspecified length and value – is due to come into effect by the end of March 2021.

The buying exercise is being run by the 7 Forces Collaborative Police Procurement initiative which, in addition to Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, and Hertfordshire, also offers aggregated procurement of goods and services for forces in Essex, Kent, Norfolk and Suffolk.