Tech
Major software issue occurred in PSNI emergency call system | Computer Weekly
A “major issue” with the ControlWorks software used by police to monitor emergency calls led to a delay in officers receiving critical information during a fast-moving investigation, Computer Weekly has learned.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) uses ControlWorks as part of its command and control system. The software is primarily used for managing, logging and categorising calls received by the emergency services from the public.
Sources have confirmed that a “major issue” with ControlWorks in 2020 meant information was not passed on to an inquiry team in a fast-moving investigation until the day after it was received.
A PSNI ControlWorks operator indicated to frontline officers that alerts on the system related to the investigation could be lost or delayed, Computer Weekly has been told.
Later, a senior officer in the case confirmed that a crucial tip-off in the fast-moving police inquiry was delayed because of an issue with ControlWorks.
The PSNI told Computer Weekly that there had been no incidents with ControlWorks that had led to loss of data, and that if there were issues, any delays to police response time would be minimal.
It is understood that the PSNI keeps records of incidents with ControlWorks and refers any serious incidents to its supplier for investigation.
ControlWorks aims to improve response times
The ControlWorks suite includes computer-aided dispatch and customer relationship management capabilities, which are designed to improve response times by speeding up decision-making for call handlers.
The PSNI announced that it was using Capita Communications and Control Solutions’ ControlWorks software in 2018, replacing its 20-year-old Capita Atlas Command and Control System, which had reached the end of its life.
From February 2018, ControlWorks was installed across the PSNI’s three regional contact management centres. The contract was for an initial seven-year term, with options to extend it by up to a decade. The current contract renewal date is 30 September 2028.
ControlWorks, which is used by senior commanders and call handlers, was launched by Capita in 2013. One of its selling points was that it offered auditable logs for greater accountability and better resilience.
After investing heavily in the software, Capita sold its Secure Solutions and Services business, which included ControlWorks and other emergency services software, to NEC Software Solutions UK for £62m. After a long review by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the sale was completed in 2023.
ControlWorks’ use by police
ControlWorks is used by a number of police forces in the UK, including Greater Manchester, West Midlands, Derbyshire, South Wales, the British Transport Police and the Ministry of Defence Police.
An independent review in 2020 found serious problems with Greater Manchester Police’s Capita-supplied iOPS IT system, which attempted to integrate ControlWorks with Capita’s PoliceWorks record management software used by police officers for managing day-to-day investigations and intelligence records.
“Even when staff have received training, users reported that searches on ControlWorks and PoliceWorks sometimes returned inconsistent or incorrect information about risks,” the review found.
Greater Manchester Police subsequently announced plans to replace PoliceWorks, a process that is expected to be completed next year, after concluding it could not be adapted or fixed to meet the needs of the organisation. It has continued to use ControlWorks.
How ControlWorks errors are categorised
According to freedom of information requests to West Midlands Police, incidents in ControlWorks are categorised depending on their level of severity.
Critical incidents, which affect force-wide availability of ControlWorks, are categorised as P1 and must be corrected within eight hours by the force’s IT suppliers.
A force-wide degradation in the service offered by ControlWorks is categorised as P2 and must be resolved in six hours.
Less serious incidents are categorised as P3, which must be resolved by the force’s supplier in 24 hours, and P4, which do not require urgent remediation.
PSNI: No major disruption
The PSNI said there had been no major disruption to ControlWorks.
“Police can confirm that, to date, there has been no instance of major disruption which has led to data loss as there is significant resilience built into the application, servers and infrastructure,” a spokesperson said.
“If a fault was to occur with ControlWorks, it would be dealt with internally by trained colleagues who also have resilience in place to ensure that in the event of an error, a delay in police response time would be minimal,” the spokesperson added.
The Northern Ireland Policing Board, which oversees the PSNI, said it had not received any reports from the PSNI about errors in ControlWorks.
A spokesperson said that if a major system disruption or significant information or data loss occurred, the board would expect to be informed.
The PSNI has made no reference to the issue with ControlWorks in its annual reports.
NEC, which completed the purchase of ControlWorks from Capita in August 2023, said it had not been made aware of any major issues relating to ControlWorks since it acquired the business.
“We work closely with police forces and other agencies to ensure it is reliable and secure, and have not been made aware of any major issues related to ControlWorks since we acquired the business in 2023,” it said.
A spokesperson for Capita, which originally supplied ControlWorks to the PSNI, said: “Because this is a business we sold several years ago, we can’t comment.”
Tech
The Best Babbel Promo Codes and Deals for April 2026
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Tech
Robotaxi Outage in China Leaves Passengers Stranded on Highways
An unknown technical problem caused a number of robotaxis owned by the Chinese tech giant Baidu to freeze on Tuesday in the middle of traffic, trapping some passengers in the vehicles for more than an hour.
In Wuhan, a city in central China where Baidu has deployed hundreds of its Apollo Go self-driving taxis, people on Chinese social media reported witnessing the cars suddenly malfunction and stop operating. Photos and videos shared online show the Baidu cars halted on busy highways, often in the fast lane.
A college student in Wuhan tells WIRED that she was stuck in a Baidu robotaxi with two friends for about 90 minutes on Tuesday. (She asked to be only identified with her last name, He, to protect her privacy.) The student says the car malfunctioned and stopped four or five times during the trip before it eventually parked in front of an intersection in eastern Wuhan. Luckily, it was not a busy road, and the group was not in immediate danger. The screen display in the car asked the passengers to remain in the car with seatbelt on and wait for a company representative to come “in five minutes,” according to a photo He shared with WIRED.
He says it took about 30 minutes to reach a Baidu customer representative on the phone. “They kept saying it would be reported to their superior. But they didn’t explain what caused [the outage] or let us know how long we needed to wait for the staff to come,” He says. But no one ever came, and after another hour of waiting, the three passengers decided to just get out and go home by themselves (the doors weren’t locked).
On Chinese social media, other passengers also complained about being unable to reach Baidu’s customer support. “I tried every way I could think of to call for help using the options the app showed, but the phone line wouldn’t go through, and when I pressed the SOS button it told me it was unavailable. So then what exactly is the SOS for?” wrote one person in a post on RedNote alongside a video showing the button not working. She said she had to force the door to open and get out of the car as traffic halted to a complete stop behind her robotaxi. “Apollo Go, you really owe me an apology,” she wrote.
Baidu didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Local police in Wuhan issued a statement around midnight in China that said the situation was “likely caused by a system malfunction,” but the incident is still under investigation. No one was injured and all passengers have exited the vehicles, the police added. It’s unclear how many of Baidu’s robotaxis may have been impacted.
One dash cam recording posted to RedNote shows a car passing 16 Apollo Go vehicles parked on the road in the span of 90 minutes. On several occasions, the video shows the driver narrowly avoiding hitting the robotaxis by braking or changing lanes at the last minute.
Others were apparently not as fortunate. In another RedNote post, a man claimed he crashed into one of the malfunctioning Baidu vehicles. The man wrote in the caption that he was driving over 40 mph on a highway when the car in front of him suddenly changed lanes to avoid the stopped robotaxi. He couldn’t react fast enough and ended up running into the self-driving car. Photos of the man’s orange SUV being towed away show that the car’s front-right fender was completely torn off, and other parts appeared to have sustained major damage.
Tech
Our Favorite Affordable Air Purifier Is Temporarily Even Cheaper
Tired of the stale, fetid air looming over your apartment like a cloud? Check out the Coway Airmega Mighty, an already wallet-friendly home air purifier that’s even cheaper right now as part of the Amazon Big Spring Sale. It’s currently marked down to just $154, a $76 discount from its typical price, but you’ll want to move quickly if you’re interested, as the deal is only available for a limited time.
Despite its low price tag and squat stature, the Airmega Mighty is capable of cleaning a substantial amount of space. At full bore, it can handle a 361-square-foot space, although you’ll get the best performance, and save your ears, if you’re closer to a 200-square-foot room. If you don’t want it running constantly, there are built-in timers to automatically shut off after 1, 4, or 8 hours, or you can use Eco Mode, which will run until the Might doesn’t sense any dirty air for half an hour.
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While the Coway Airmega Mighty is available in three colors, only the black and silver model is currently discounted, so you’ll have to pay full price if it doesn’t match your living room’s color scheme. We’ve put in the work testing every air purifier we could get our hands on, so make sure to check out the full guide if you’re trying to clean up your space. The Coway is discounted as part of Amazon’s Big Spring Sale, and we’ve got the best deals from products we’ve tested gathered in one place if you want to save some bucks.
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