VALUABLE police time has been wasted after computer blunders plagued new IT systems introduced at Lincolnshire Police Headquarters.
Lincolnshire Police's commercial partner G4S introduced new systems in April – but senior officers have been forced to step in after a series of problems.
The situation go so serious that it led to a vote of no confidence in September from rank and file police officers.
Police representatives say officer rotas have been thrown into disarray – with bobbies left scrambling to sort childcare at short notice and sergeants have had to spend too much time on IT issues – rather than genuine police matters.
Now Lincolnshire Police has been forced to stress that the safety of the county has not been put at risk as a result.
Senior members of staff are meeting on a regular basis in an effort to keep on top of the situation. G4S signed a £200 million deal with the cash- strapped Lincolnshire Police in April 2012 to run back office services and save the force £28 million during the 10-year contract.
G4S insists no extra public money has been spent addressing the issues, but the force has confirmed the systems relate to police and support staff duties, annual leave, time-off, expenses and salaries.
Jon Hassall, chairman of Lincolnshire Police Federation, said: "Early on, it went down to two-and-a-half weeks' notice of rotas. Cops were left wondering when they were supposed to be working and it was causing problems with childcare.
"People were not getting paid for overtime or were being overpaid and the force was then having to claim money back from them. Sergeants were spending too much time looking at computers rather than supervising PCs."
He said there had been a lot of disruption – but frontline policing had not been at risk.
"It certainly affected anyone working shifts and there was uproar from the cops, but they continued to keep the county safe," he said. "But the chief officer group sorted it out and a senior officer and a couple of officers were appointed to work out rotas."
In an anonymous letter, a serving police officer revealed the IT problems have dogged around 700 colleagues. He said officers were not given enough notice of rotas, which he said had affected morale.
And he too raised fears about a possible waste of police time on issues they should not have to worry about.
"Duty management, instead of being fulfilled by G4S staff as contracted, is having to be reviewed and managed practically by police supervisors – taking up valuable officer time," he said.
Chief Constable Neil Rhodes said: "I convened an executive group to meet each week, track progress and ensure issues relating to the new systems were rectified.
"It continues to meet and has representation from across the force including the Police Federation, Unison and G4S.
"Members of the force have been kept informed through- out. The commercial partnership with G4S will continue to deliver the considerable financial savings which are essential to ensure Lincolnshire Police can balance its budget."
