Airwave, provider of critical voice and data communications to public service organizations in Great Britain, has identified large potential savings for user bodies from an e-learning package which it trialled last year with Devon & Cornwall Police. The Airwave Academy package, which was in use between October 2010 and September 2011, was designed to help officers improve their skills in using the Airwave Service.

“We commissioned the report in order to get an independent review of whether the planned benefits of Academy during the rollout have been realized”, said John Lewis, a director of Airwave. “Academy allows officers to complete the training whilst on shift, which means that they can complete the modules at their own pace.”

During the review period, 2596 officers logged on to the system and spent close on 4000 hours completing the eight training modules. The report puts the potential cost avoidance savings over two years at £262,786, showing also that similar e-learning modules could potentially cost the force only £8 per officer per year.

“When an officer joins the force, their initial training on the use of the Airwave service is conducted face-to-face which, according to user surveys, is still the best way to introduce the service”, explained Tim Bishop, Airwave development and services manager at Devon & Cornwall Police. “However, considering that we have been using the Airwave network for seven years, it could mean that some of our officers have had no follow-up training since 2005.”

‘Huge savings’

Devon & Cornwall Police covers the largest geographical police area in England, extending 180 miles from the Dorset and Somerset borders to the Isles of Scilly. For a force of this size, a solution was needed that would take into account the location of officers spread across both counties.

“The report highlighted for us the fact that Academy has huge deliverable and administration savings”, Tim Bishop continued. “Officers need not take time out from their shiftwork and there are no costs associated with travelling in order to complete the training.”

After completing each module, officers underwent a knowledge reassessment, and the analysis demonstrated a 20 per cent knowledge improvement after an average of 40 minutes training.

“During this period, we also recorded a 13 per cent rise in the use of status messaging, which can, in part, be attributed to the status messaging module”, Tim Bishop commented. “We have also seen a 62 per cent increase in the use of the emergency button, which has been significantly influenced by the knowledge increase indicated in the report.”

Airwave adds that the importance of continued training was further highlighted during the 2011 summer riots, when officers were brought into the affected areas and were required to change talk groups, understand the different aspects of interoperability and use universally-accepted Airwave-speak during communications.