Dublin mobile software firm Saadian Technologies has been nominated for a prestigious UK e-government award for deploying a secure mobile messaging system that allows the London Metropolitan Police keep tabs on ex-prisoners.
The company has been nominated for the UK e-Government National Award, which is being run by Publictechnology.net and supported by the Cabinet Office e-Government Unit and the Society of IT Management. The awards will take place on 19 January and all finalists will receive a presentation from Ian Watmore, head of e-government at the UK Cabinet Office.
Siliconrepublic.com was first to report last March that Saadian secured a deal with the London Metropolitan Police to deploy its Prisoner Intelligence Notification System, which provides police with timely intelligence on more than 15,000 ex-criminals within seconds, freeing officers to be deployed on other important projects. The aim is to use the information securely and rapidly in conjunction with the growth of the Airwave system between UK police constabularies, which enables officers in emergency services to be located in real-time as well as access and share vital information.
Digitally encrypted and password authenticated the PINS technology integrates seamlessly with prison systems in the UK and disseminates the information to the appropriate officers privately. Officers would then be able to match the prisoner data to different agencies as well as link other vital information such as postcodes in investigations. As well as this, officers will be able to receive photographs of prisoners about to be released as well as establish audit trails on the information being employed.
The aim is to free up police manpower, prevent repeat crime and enable specialist police units to keep up to date with immediate information.
The system is understood to have been developed using open standards technologies, including Soap API and extensible markup language architecture.
Dublin-based Saadian is one of Ireland’s best-known and original mobile software developers and is engaged in building enterprise mobile content applications for both business and government customers, including The Irish Times and Today FM.
The company also hit the headlines earlier this year with the news that in conjunction with Vodafone the company had won a contract with the Local Government Computer Services Board to deploy the technology that will enable local authorities across Ireland to engage with citizens via short messaging service.
By John Kennedy
