Humberside Police
OneConsultation video technology for the police sector
Humberside Police is a Police Force in the North of England that serves and protects the people of Northern Lincolnshire, Hull, and the East Riding of Yorkshire. Humberside Police prides itself on working together with local citizens to create safe and strong communities where people know how to protect themselves and can make informed decisions.
Services
OneConsultation
The Brief
Humberside Police were in the process of looking at technology solutions to improve their services with Nasstar* before COVID-19, but the severity of the pandemic meant that they needed to quickly accelerate this process. With Coronavirus presenting a challenging time for the public and public sector services alike, Humberside Police needed to find a way to comprehensively carry out police investigations with the public, whilst respecting social distancing measures and removing the need for physical contact where appropriate.
Humberside Police turned to Nasstar for help in implementing OneConsultation – a virtual video appointment service that would allow them to communicate with victims and witnesses of crimes, without needing to meet face-to-face.
*Previously Modality Systems
The Benefits
By using OneConsultation, Humberside is now benefiting from:
- Improved accessibility – Services can be delivered virtually to members of the public who cannot participate in a face-to-face interview
- An adaptable and scalable solution – Separate waiting areas can be created to suit a range of different services, from witness statements to victim interviews
- A seamless experience – With the solution requiring only an existing Teams or Skype deployment, initial setup was easy and day-to-day usage is familiar for both Officers and citizens who simply need access to a web browser
- Time efficiencies – Virtual consultations can take place from any location at any time, thus reducing travel time, costs, and carbon footprint
- A secure and GDPR compliant solution – OneConsultation is hosted in Azure, ensuring no personal information is stored using OneConsultation.
- Cost transparency – Fixed-monthly cost model with all charges established upfront
The Solution
OneConsultation
To ensure Humberside Police could carry out their vital work whilst the county was battling the Coronavirus pandemic, Nasstar implemented OneConsultation providing the Force with five virtual interview rooms which could be used to securely communicate with the public remotely. OneConsultation is a fully managed, customisable, virtual consultation service that leverages a business’ existing Microsoft Teams or Skype for Business deployment.
From the initial go-ahead, OneConsultation was implemented within just one week, enabling Humberside Police to continue their crucial work with very little downtime. Alongside Nasstar’s input, the solution required Humberside to build a workflow around OneConsultation and create an Outlook calendar for each digital interview room provided; a simple process that was quickly completed.
Following implementation, Nasstar delivered remote training to the Humberside Police project team which consisted of an overview of the system and how to use it. This was then relayed to the staff who would be primarily be using the platform, including the scheduling team who would be responsible for booking appointments.
Utilising OneConsultation, Humberside Police are now able to offer a digital alternative to face-to-face interviews with members of the public, allowing them to obtain statements and carry out interviews with those who have either been a victim of a crime or who may have been a witness to an incident.
Our new video consultation system is a great digital step forward for the force throughout the pandemic, as our focus remains on keeping the public within our area safe and this gives us the means to do so. The video system will hopefully ease any worries around giving statements by providing a safe, virtual environment demonstrating that it is possible to stay well-connected with others whilst practising social distancing.