Towards a Cloud Effective Metropolitan Police Services - By Emmanuel Iheanyi

ABSTRACT – Recent economic decline and further predicted decrease in certain countries in Europe have forced their governments into employing important measures to protect its economies. The government reduction in spending as part of her measures has indeed been proposed by the United Kingdom (UK). The UK Metropolitan Police (UMP), an arm of the government, has been hit by these cuts in capital allocations leading to reduction in its proposed budgets and expenditures. Hence an effective use and management of Information Communication Technology (ICT) and its resources while delivering efficient and better police service is of high importance to the UK Metropolitan Police. The Internet provides a more interactive and effective means of disseminating information within its users, but maintaining availability now pose a major challenge of complexity and scalability with increasing operational cost. Cloud Computing technology has helped overcome some of these challenges by making use of the internet and a remote resource centre to manage computer infrastructures, applications and allow users on-demand access to any of these services. Its scalability, simplicity, availability and flexibility do bring a better approach to police services. This research explores the different applications of cloud computing technology in improving Metropolitan police services while reducing their operational cost.

Keywords; Cloud computing, Information communication technology (ICT), UK Metropolitan Police (UMP), Police services.

Want more Attention on Facebook? Pay $2

I once said Facebook had a bunch of attention hungry people. I mean like people who update their status just about every minute, with unnecessary information. “Oh I just had blah blah for lunch.......I am crossing the road now....I am combing my hair.....blah blah blah blah blah”. Well, I sure wasn’t wrong and I guess a bunch of product strategist at Facebook’s Head Office in Palo Alto, shared my opinion.

Very creative and weird mini-guitar USB Drive

The weird miniature acoustic guitar USB Drive (Via Etsy)

I once had a very beautiful USB drive that looked like a bridge, which i got as a gift at a career fair in Abu Dhabi. It was so cute and unique that each time I pulled it out to use, I got a compliment. Sadly, my cute USB is now missing and i was planning on getting a new one. Luckily for me(and you dear reader), while surfing the net this week I found this drop dead gorgeous (forgive me for anthropomorphisingJ) and classy USB Drive that kept me staring at my computer screen with my mouth wide open in admiration for more than a minute.

Technology: The Celebrated Killer

(Picture obtained from www.ehow.co.uk)

Like yesterday, I remember having to use the post to send my application form and credentials to an examination body. Those days were very memorable, not for how fast the service was, but for how I waited anxiously for my documents to be delivered, yes they were eventually after so much delay, but without feedback. I wished I could have them delivered in just 20 minutes (technology did much more than I expected). I also wished I could send them from the comfort of my home.

Technology has changed everything. We have now substituted sending letters via the post to sending emails with documents attached (where necessary) which can be delivered in spilt seconds.

How do project managers handle scope creep?

Picture gotten from Xavier Leadership Center.

Change they say is the only constant thing! While some changes come with bells and whistles, others are as meek and harmless as a sheep. This is the tale of scope creep. It might be as simple as one or two minor added task that might not hurt the project in the short term, to an outrageous request from stakeholders to add a major feature to the project. Either ways scope creep is unavoidable! In the project management world, scope creep is to a project as man is to breathing in oxygen. According to Howitz, although there are several reasons why a project could fail, but one of the major reasons is scope creep (Howitz, C. 2010).That is not to say as project managers we should just sit around, fold our arms and do nothing about it. Scope creep itself is not always the ugly monster some project managers paint it to be, how it is managed is what matters the most (Russell, L.2007). Now comes the big question, how can scope creep be managed?