Funded +3 year PhD - Evaluation of Police Mobile Systems

This project offers an opportunity to undertake research which will contribute to understanding of the process by which complex ICT systems are implemented and value obtained from them.

Research indicates that between 2003 and today virtually all police services, in common with other public and private sector organizations, were actively engaged in deploying some form of mobile data system.

Despite this activity, and the significant investment it entailed, the effective evaluation of the influence of these information systems on the performance of policing has been, and remains, a problematic area for the services.

Evaluation is often not undertaken, or is carried out ineffectively or inefficiently, and best practice does not seem to be effectively transferred between forces.

The purpose of this study is to understand and explore the mechanisms by which forces are evaluating their mobile systems and the measures and data sources that they are using. An in-depth exploration of practice in the nominated force will allow for the development of more effective approaches to evaluation and, through action research, the validation of these in a practice setting.

This issue of Information System (IS) evaluation has been identified as a problem not only for the police but also within the wider public and private sector in the UK, as well as internationally, and as a ‘thorny problem’ for scholarship.

This PhD scholarship is an opportunity to make a contribution to, and develop significant expertise in, this area as a foundation for an academic career with a significant contribution to practice.