Out where the rubber meets the road, as general duties officers often call it, having timely information on hand for police is the key to getting results.
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At the ACT's Operations Centre, based out of the Winchester Police Centre in Belconnen, there are changes quietly afoot in delivering better quality information more quickly to the officers working Canberra's streets and suburbs.
Mobile technology now puts information directly into every ACT general duties officer's handheld device, and supporting that is a new operational intelligence team.
Since July 31, these "Op Intel" members have been embedded in the ACT's Operations Centre, working alongside the call-takers and radio operators to help pull together a more complete operational picture for those on the road.
The new system is just out of its proof-of-concept phase, but is already saving time and police resources.
Sergeant John Hawkins, who is leading the team, said the ACT had modelled the system on other successful examples used by police in the UK, South Australia and Queensland.
While there's no substitute for experienced operators pushing vital information out via the old-fashioned but effective encrypted police radio network, Op Intel now delivers a timely "value add" that didn't previously exist.
"Police have always had a dedicated intelligence unit, but that's used more strategically to develop bigger assessments of criminal behaviour collated from long-term data; they take the big-picture approach," Sergeant Hawkins said.
"Op Intel is much more tactical; it's delivering the key information officers need in real time.
"We're looking at how we can keep our general duties officers out in the field, giving them the information they need while they are mobile to avoid them having to return to a [police] station to do their checks and inquiries."
Helping to speed up the finding of missing people has been one of the early "wins" for the team. Having an Op Intel person available on a dedicated phone line, who can comb the database back in Operations, examine links and offer potential insights, keeps the investigation moving along.
"When we have people reported missing, there are often one or two immediate leads that police can jump on and hopefully, that's successful in getting a result," he said.
"But with missing persons, time is always the critical factor.
"Recently we had a 12-year-old boy missing from a school in North Canberra, and Op Intel were able to jump on the task, upload an image to send out on the mobile network, and value add with critical information like the child's background, known locations and associations, and patterns of behaviour.
"It all helps give the officers out on the road more to work with and in this case, resolved the matter much faster."
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Public expectations of police solving crimes and dealing with community issues sooner are continually rising, which means the old ways of doing business have to change before small problems become big problems.
For instance, in the ACT the use of social media as a public communications tool - something that occurs widely in other states and territories - was seen as too risky by the Australian Federal Police until 2009, when former chief police officer Mike Phelan - then the youngest person to hold the position - finally managed to win over his conservative senior executives.
Now it's a primary part of the police toolkit, from locating witnesses to finding missing persons.
"It's a changing landscape out there, and police have to make better use of the available technology and resources; that means we always have to look at doing things differently," Sergeant Hawkins said.
