IT pilots

The potential of new technology to ease the path of the independent witness, to deter violence and to make the criminal justice system swifter, fairer and more effective is enormous.  And that is before thinking of the hundreds of millions of pounds it could save us as taxpayers.

Right now, courts are one of the few places where you can find living examples of video machines that cannot be switched on, dvd machines which play the wrong format, and TV screens that crash.  Outside of the courts, the most widespread use of mobile technology in the field of crime is ‘happy slapping’ by the violent youths when they video the assault they commit on some hapless girl or boy and then copy the film round to their mates.

With the Met Police’s decision to do away with witness appeal boards as they may damage the new public confidence ratings and targets, the task of engaging the independent witness and good citizen is now even harder.  We want to develop Google mapping or something similar so that the police and victims can put out calls for witness and where witnesses can easily find out whom to contact.  In our view such an initiative will be better scoped and piloted in and by the community.  So if you have experience of Google mapping, drop us a line to candoit@witnessconfident.org.

We are sure there are loads of ways that smart folk who know about IT can think of to improve the lot of the witness and to help engage the public in reclaiming their communities.  So whether you work for a big mobile company, are building your own games empire or are just a creative genius with some time on your hands, please get in touch if you’ve got a good idea or if you just want to brainstorm.  And if you’re a whiz on social networking groups and are happy to help get these messages out to local groups, please let us know.

As we and you come up with new ideas, our intention is to pilot and test the proposals in this section.