Making knowledge accessible across 90 police organisations

POLKA, the Police Online Knowledge Area, is a secure online space for the policing community to share knowledge and collaborate on new ways of working. The Civica-built online collaboration system supports speedy problem-solving through access to specific professional expertise. 

Key outcomes:

• Helps to overcome knowledge silos within and across teams, forces and departments within policing in England and Wales
• Able to find subject matter experts and share information
• User-led approach to service design and delivery
• POLKA is now the principal platform for knowledge management and collaboration within the Police community – used by more than 50,000 individuals across 90 organisations
• Content integrated and managed in line with IL3 security requirements
• Reduces cost by removing duplication of effort and consolidating 80 previous extranets
• Runner-up in the Digital Innovation category at the Guardian Public Sector Awards 2012

Using POLKA allows geographic barriers and silos to be broken down and the conditional boundaries of rank and file within policing to be crossed in an open and transparent manner. A really important factor as criminals often know no boundaries!"
Kate Grady, NPIA POLKA Online Collaboration Team Manager

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