Does Switzerland have too many operations centers?
At the Swiss Police IT Congress today, Thursday, solutions from the Czech Republic were hotly debated. A comparison with Switzerland raises skepticism as to whether the current number of operations centers in this country is still justifiable.
This year's Swiss Police Informatics Congress (SPIK) in Bern was opened by a high-ranking officer of the Czech Police: František Habada is head of the Operations Center of the Police Headquarters of the Czech Republic. In his presentation, he focused on the integration of operations centers: "We have reduced from 90 to 15 centers." Habada emphasizes that in view of the current security situation in Europe, it is of high importance to centralize operational centers (OCs) and also to enable cross-border exchanges.
According to SPIK, a comparison with Switzerland suggests itself, where there are currently 35 police operations centers - some of them distributed over several locations. While the Czech Republic has 15 DCs for 10.5 million inhabitants (2014), Switzerland has more than twice as many for 8.3 million people (2015).
EZ not fully utilized in normal case
"From a technical and operational point of view, there are no reasons against integrating DC. It is political arguments that have so far stood in the way of reduction," says a staff representative of a Swiss police corps. The fact is that small DCs are inefficient in terms of personnel, because they need more resources to provide their services. But it is the personnel that accounts for 85% of the costs (15% infrastructure costs) of a DC, as the SPIK writes in its media release on the occasion of the congress. In addition, a DC is normally not fully utilized, as personnel reserves are necessary for emergencies. At the latest when the pressure to save money increases, the integration of DCs must be considered, according to SPIK. This is not only desirable for operations centers, but is also a challenge elsewhere in police IT.
Cooperation is the order of the day
Stefan Blättler, President of the KKPKS and Commander of the Bern Cantonal Police, emphasized in his closing speech: "Resources must be pooled in order to set up more long-term projects and thus carry out more tasks even more efficiently." And he further emphasized: "Only cooperation can curb the expected cost increase in the longer term."
The 9th Swiss Police Informatics Congress was attended by around 700 representatives from the police and business, IT experts from various sectors and participants from politics. The annual event is the national platform for the exchange of experience on the topics of police informatics and the fight against cybercrime. In addition to presentations in seven symposia, participants were able to see for themselves the practical benefits of the solutions presented at over 30 exhibition booths.
(SPIK)
