IP: Stranger than fiction....

["Vladimir Z. Nuri" <vznuri@netcom.com>]

From: believer@telepath.com
Subject: IP: Stranger than fiction....
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1998 02:09:20 -0600
To: believer@telepath.com

Source:  London Times
http://www.sunday-times.co.uk:80/news/pages/Times/frontpage.html?2182225

Computer bobbies to take over from PCs 

 POLICE in Greater Manchester are to test plans to replace
 some police stations with unstaffed computer kiosks that
 resemble hole-in-the-wall bank machines. 

 People anxious to report an emergency or speak to a
 policeman would use a touch screen to be put through by
 telephone, and eventually by video link, to the nearest
 control room. They would be able to ask the time or receive
 directions electronically, at the touch of the screen. 

 Senior officers believe that the machines, known as customer
 interaction points or communications kiosks, will appear in
 every high street and will become as familiar as cash
 machines and the old blue police boxes. 

 The hole-in- the- wall proposals - which will be tested in
 Salford as part of a plan to reduce the number of police
 stations - grew from a review of the Greater Manchester
 Police force's property as part of a budget crisis. 

 Supporters of the plan insist that the need to cut costs is only
 a means to push through an inevitable and welcome
 technological change which more adequately reflects
 changing police methods. 

 Stuart Render, the force spokesman, said that most people
 reported crime, from burglaries to emergencies, over the
 telephone, and increasingly by mobile phone. They rarely
 needed to go to a police station, except to present
 documents. 

 The kiosks would release money for frontline officers instead
 of tying it up in property. The first machines could be in
 libraries, supermarkets or on the street, he said. 

 "In the future in every high street there will probably be some
 kind of hole-in-the-wall police contact point where you will
 be able to make contact with a 24-hour control room or find
 out things about community safety and so on. That way
 technology gives us flexibility and accessibility to improve our
 level of service and keep officers on the front line rather than
 having them manning police stations." 

 The pilot scheme will be discussed as part of the larger
 rationalisation at a meeting of the Police Authority on Friday.
 Chief Superintendent Chris Wells, Divisional Commander in
 Salford, said: "None of the existing police stations will close
 until replacement facilities have been installed. 

 "The vast majority of people that access our service do not
 visit a police station, they use a telephone. We are looking to
 increase our effectiveness and these proposals together with
 new technology will take us in that direction." 

 He said people would be able to see town centre maps and
 get basic directions from the kiosks, as well as information
 on crime prevention, details about area constables, missing
 persons, Crimestoppers and witness support. 

 Senior officers acknowledge that their biggest problem will
 be persuading a sceptical public of the advantages. Barry
 Evans, the force's director of information technology, is
 aware of the need to "carry a myriad of people" along with
 him and that the machines must prove their worth. 

 Karen Garrido, chairwoman of the Boothstown police and
 community consultative group, based in Salford, is opposed
 to the scheme. Boothstown police station is scheduled to be
 closed within 12 months. 

 She said: "I am totally against the closure. The people should
 be asked what they want and I don't think they will want a
 little box or a hole in the wall instead." 

 A spokesman for Age Concern, which has offices in Eccles,
 Salford, said: "We believe it would be quite daunting for an
 old person who does not have a telephone to leave their
 home and use one of these machines." 

Copyright 1998 Times Newspapers Ltd.
-----------------------
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is
distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and
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http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
-----------------------


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