West Yorkshire Police Case Study

Challenge:  Making a Case

West Yorkshire is currently the fourth largest Police Force in England Wales, covering 2,034 square kilometres and serving a population of 2.1 million people.  5,685 Police Officers and 3,670 Police Staff (including 461 Police Community Support Officers) make up the staff of West Yorkshire Police.

The Force also has a number of core support services, including the Office of the Force Solicitor (OFS) which defends West Yorkshire Police when necessary in any civil claims, such as road traffic accidents, as well as dealing with sex offender orders, football banning orders, proceeds of crime applications and licensing and firearms issues.

The OFS team of 20 staff also handles internal staff issues including employment tribunals, accidents at work, pension and police discipline cases.  With an average annual case load of 2,000 split between 13 legal practitioners – from paralegals to solicitors – strong control processes and excellent information resources are key.  “There is an increasing demand for case related information across West Yorkshire Police, from personnel to the investigation unit”, explains Darren Grosvenor, Practice Manager, The Office of the Force Solicitor, West Yorkshire Police.

Trying to meet this information demand using the existing case management system was creating a significant administrative overhead.  Rather than opting for an expensive and disruptive system upgrade, the Force decided to use SAP BusinessObjects Edge and SAP Enterprise Dashboard Design to automate reporting and deliver case workload visibility through management dashboards.

Approach:  Transforming Information Accuracy

West Yorkshire Police turned to SAP Partner DSCallards for the software installation, Universe creation and training in SAP Crystal Reports.  The case management system is copied overnight to SAP BusinessObjects Edge, enabling the Force to build up a historical view of each case as it progresses.

DSCallards helped the OFS to deliver a tailored dashboard to office managers which provides the total workload, the number of cases by type and the number of hours recorded for each case.

The OFS now has automated reports running on a monthly or quarterly basis for ten departments, including environmental health and personnel.  “The ability to schedule a number of standard reports in Crystal is saving around two to three days each month”, Grosvenor confirms.

Results:  Meeting Law Society Standards

One of the important roles of the OFS is to keep its insurers up to date on current case status.  As each case arrives, the solicitor assigned assesses the case and sets a reserve – the likely cost of setting the claim.  Under the insurance policy, the Force pays a certain amount of compensation each year, after which the insurer picks up the bill and it is therefore important to keep the insurer up to date on the current level of liability.

“Using SAP Crystal Reports the OFS provides the insurance company with monthly information on claims, with quarterly reports on misfeasance and employer’s liability, “Grosvenor commented.  “The next step will be to use SAP Crystal Reports to look at trends in reserve setting, by case type and solicitor, which will enable the OFS to tie down the reserve policy”.  Improving the accuracy of this process is expected to reduce insurance premiums by providing the insurers with greater confidence in the efficiency and effectiveness of West Yorkshire Police’s claims process.

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