A performance audit into the NSW Police Force’s management of a $100 million program to acquire new technology has found that its investment decision making could be improved in the future.
In her report, Funding enhancements for police technology, Auditor-General Margaret Crawford says that while the Police Force mostly managed the ‘Policing for Tomorrow’ program effectively there was a missed opportunity to take a whole-of-organisation approach to identify capability gaps and target the acquired technologies to plug them.
“The NSW Police Force has processes in place to monitor the benefits of some of the larger technology, but it does not do this consistently for all procured technology,” Ms Crawford said.
“It could not demonstrate that smaller projects are improving the efficiency or effectiveness of policing,” she said.
“The audit also found that the NSW Police Force does not routinely engage with external stakeholders on the use or impacts of new technology that changes how officers interact with the public.”
Ms Crawford said she recognised that external stakeholder engagement would not always be possible for particularly sensitive procurements that involved covert technologies or methodologies.
She recommended the Police Force finalise and routinely use a whole-of-organisation capability model that identified and planned to address technology gaps, and that it continue to develop an enterprise benefits management approach to drive achievement of targeted benefits, and greater utilisation of technology capability.
The Auditor-General’s 30-page report can be accessed at this PS News link.
